Filenews 27 March 2024 - by Eleftheria Paizanou
The Government is studying new targeted measures to support vulnerable groups from high prices, due to the end of the horizontal reduction of excise duty on fuel next Sunday.
The final decisions, which will mainly concern fuels, are expected to be taken this week, at the next meeting of the Council of Ministers, provided that the measures will be finalized by then. Yesterday, the President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, during the meeting of the Council of Ministers, called on ministers to submit proposals in relation to the measures.
Addressing the ministers, President Christodoulides noted that "it is important that we have taken two packages of measures, but we need to see the measures that are expiring and see other additional measures. I want to hear your suggestions."
According to information provided by "F", the new measures will focus mainly on the issue of fuels, without excluding measures in other sectors as well, with the granting of one-off support. The Ministry of Energy has already submitted its proposals, which focus on targeted support to the income weak social strata of the population, who receive financial support from the state. In particular, it is envisaged that support should be addressed to Guaranteed Minimum Income recipients, large families, low pensioners, single-parent families, etc.
As "F" is informed, the Ministry of Finance, in cooperation with the Deputy Ministry of Social Welfare, will prepare a relevant proposal. The Ministry of Finance will examine the financial aspect of the issue, while the Deputy Ministry of Social Welfare will proceed with the categorization of beneficiaries. The granting of a credit card, in the standards applied in Greece, was judged in the recent past not to be applicable in Cyprus for technical reasons. What is at stake is the granting of an allowance or crediting to an account of the beneficiaries.
Finance Minister Makis Keravnos expressed hope that at the end of the month there will be some announcements in this direction, stressing that the Ministry of Finance is at the stage of reflection and study on targeted compensatory measures. "Let me remind you that in the previous package of measures to tackle high prices, for some categories such as single-parent families and vulnerable groups, middle strata, the measure of one-off sponsorship had been applied.
Therefore, there is a comprehensive approach to the whole issue and in the coming days there will be an announcement," he said. Keravnos recalled the recommendations of the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and other institutions not to implement horizontal measures. He reiterated that in Cyprus the price of gasoline and diesel is one of the lowest in the European Union.
