From September, Athens will subsidize electricity and gas bills and provide one-time assistance to vulnerable groups.
Greece is planning a new package worth 3.2 billion euros to reduce the pressure on the budgets of households and companies due to rising energy prices, Finance Minister Christos Staikuras said, Reuters reports.
Like many other countries, Greece has been struggling with rising gas, electricity, fuel and food prices since last year, and the crisis has deepened following Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine.
From September, Athens will subsidize electricity and gas bills, and also offered one-time assistance to vulnerable groups totaling 4 billion euros.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a televised address Thursday that the government would introduce an upper limit on wholesale electricity prices and reimburse up to 60% of all excessive costs incurred by electricity consumers with annual incomes of up to 45,000 euros between December and May.
Staukars said the conservative government’s support program would be partially funded from the state budget.
The total costs of the measures are 3.2 billion euros, of which 1.1 billion euros will burden the budget, the Minister of Finance said at the briefing.
Source: investor.bg