Investment incentives law to help development valid from next week
The government is basing its hopes for economic recovery and development on the new investment incentives law and EU investment subsidies. Economy Minister Giorgos Alogoskoufis announced after his meeting with Development Minister Dimitris Sioufas yesterday that the new law regarding investments will be applicable from next week. «The two big instruments we have to boost development in the countryside are the investment incentives law and the [EU-subsidized] Community Support Framework,» Alogoskoufis said. «Both development tools will be fully utilized as this is a crucial year after the Olympic Games. We have to strengthen development through private initiative and investments. And one of the main means for that is the law to be activated from next week,» announced the minister, who next weekend will be touring Epirus promoting the new law. The two ministers agreed on eight decisions, to be ready next week, for the law to be activated. According to sources, these decisions refer to the law’s application by state agencies, the application form needed for an investment to benefit from the law’s provisions, the pattern for economic and technical studies, the issuing of a circular by the Tax Directorate concerning application of the law on tax incentives, the expenditure to be subsidized, the documents needed to accompany investment plans, the plan evaluation criteria, and which prefectures will merit an added 15 percent subsidy for small and medium-sized enterprises.
