Payments begin next week
State coffers are opening as of next week for a series of payments to individuals and corporations as the government seeks to support the economy.
Next week will see the payment of the heating subsidy, the start of the fifth disbursement of the cheap state loans, more compensation to landlords for lost rental revenues and the state subsidy for corporate loan repayments.
– Heating subsidy. About half of the season’s handout to consumers of heating oil, natural gas, pellets and in some cases firewood will be paid out next week, while in the next few days the Finance Ministry will issue its second decision on the subsidy, which Minister Christos Staikouras said would eventually exceed 100 million euros. Originally it was supposed to range from €85-90 million.
– Cheap state loans. In total 732,000 applications were submitted for the fifth phase of the “Deposit To Be Returned” program, far above the figure of the previous phases or the 400,000 the ministry had anticipated. The high level of participation makes it highly likely that the maximum amount handed out will drop to €100,000.
– Rental compensation. A new round of rental cut compensation payments will begin in the next few days, while 60,000 cases have been identified where the November compensation has not been paid because there has been no declaration of a bank account number. Yesterday the ministry started sending messages to those landlords to submit their IBAN number.
– Gefyra 2. Staikouras reiterated on Wednesday that the intention of the ministry is to implement a corporate support program in the way the state subsidizes the mortgage tranche payments of bank debtors through the Gefyra program. It will concern the subsidizing of business loans for up to nine months, with a total budget of €300 million.
The minister added that the matter of a Gefyra 2 program for companies will be discussed with the country’s creditors in the context of the upcoming ninth assessment of the Greek economy.
