Supplementary budget submitted to Parliament
The government submitted a supplementary budget to Parliament on Thursday which takes into consideration the costs of the economic support measures to deal with the coronavirus epidemic, increasing credit by 5 billion euros.
A full budget was not tabled, with an estimate about the new balance, as it is impossible for the time being to make a forecast.
According to sources this will not happen before May.
Finance Minister Christos Staikouras told the House that the burden from the suspension of tax obligations (2.1 billion euros) and social security payments (1.6 billion), as well as the extraordinary financial support to be provided (1.4 billion) will reach up to 5.1 billion euros for March and April only.
Adding the extra expenditure on public health, the loans to companies (dubbed “deposit to be returned”), the bolstering of the primary sector, the Easter bonus to workers who have been temporarily suspended from their jobs, and the extraordinary handout to public health workers, the sum rises to 6.8 billion euros, or about 3.5 percent of gross domestic product.
