EKAS allowance to be cut by half

The EKAS allowance for low-pension retirees will be reduced by 50 percent, according to a decision by alternate Finance Minister Giorgos Houliarakis and deputy Minister for Social Security Tasos Petropoulos that was published Wednesday in the government gazette.

The move will reduce the cost of the EKAS in the 2017 budget by 421 million euros.

The country’s lenders want Greece to gradually phase out the top-up bonus currently given to some 250,000 pensioners.