Greece to distribute 1.4 billion euros to citizens hit by austerity

[webfact]

Greece to distribute 1.4 billion euros to citizens hit by austerity

 

FILE PHOTO - Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras speaks as he holds a joint news conference with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, U.S., October 17, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

 

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece will distribute 1.4 billion euros as a social dividend to pensioners and others hit hard by the country's austerity programmes, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Monday.

 

The money is available because the country has beaten its 2017 bailout target for a primary surplus - which excludes debt servicing costs - of 1.75 percent of gross economic output, he said.

 

Tsipras came to power in 2015 promising to end austerity but was later forced to sign up to a new EU bailout, the country's third, in exchange for more belt-tightening to keep Greece in the euro zone. He was re-elected and his term ends in late 2019.

 

His leftist-led government hopes that after seven years of crisis, Greece's fiscal performance will help it emerge from EU bailouts in August 2018, when its current rescue package ends.

 

"For a second year, we are in a position to distribute a social dividend to the people who need it the most. Better prepared and more effective this year, we will be able to pay out an even bigger amount," he said in a televised statement.

 

Last year, Tsipras unexpectedly announced that the state would pay out about 600 million euros to low-income pensioners, a move that angered the country's international lenders.

 

This year's handouts have been approved in principle by the lenders, who are reviewing Greece's bailout progress. Their representatives are expected in Athens this month to resume talks on fiscal targets and on reforms.

 

"We (the institutions) have been discussing these ideas with the Greek authorities. The announcements seem broadly in line with these discussions, which have not been concluded yet," an EU Commission spokesman said, adding that the proposals would be examined by the lenders.

 

Tsipras said about 720 million euros would be distributed by mid-December to 3.4 million Greeks as a one-off, tax-free benefit, based on income and wealth criteria and household size. The country's population is about 11 million.

 

Another 315 million euros would be directed to pensioners, he said, to compensate them for "unfair" health contribution payments in 2012-2016, while 360 million euros would be paid to Greece's biggest power utility, Public Power Corporation <DEHr.AT>, to prevent electricity tariff increases.

 

(Reporting by Renee Maltezou; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg, William Maclean)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-11-14

[jenny2017]

Merkel, open your wallet....

 

That's a lot of Ouzo and Suflaki though...

Edited November 14, 2017 by jenny2017

[bert bloggs]

1 hour ago, jenny2017 said:

Merkel, open your wallet....

 

That's a lot of Ouzo and Suflaki though...

No its Britain they want to open our wallet ,so that they can give the money away to countrys like Greece ,while our own pensioners go without .

[boomerangutang]

It's both refreshing and unusual.

99.99% of the time, if there's any money floating around a government, which is not claimed - it gets given to the government or, most often, to those at the top echelons, or the top banana himself.

 

  

 

[jenny2017]

3 minutes ago, bert bloggs said:

No its Britain they want to open our wallet ,so that they can give the money away to countrys like Greece ,while our own pensioners go without .

I doubt that this problem is somehow related to the UK. Perhaps it will be better after the Brexit? 

[bert bloggs]

10 minutes ago, jenny2017 said:

I doubt that this problem is somehow related to the UK. Perhaps it will be better after the Brexit? 

Thats why the E.U want such a large "divorce" setelment , if we dont pay it ,they have to give it out themselves ,and Merkel is in enough trouble in Germany at the moment ,trying to form a govt

[Rancid]

Bank CEOs? The millions in bonuses have dropped a couple of percentage points.

[thaiguzzi]

They'd be better off  going back to the Drachma and giving up on the Euro...

[Srikcir]

Looks like Greece is on track for another social dividend in 2018. GDP is projected to grow by

• 2.5% http://www.oecd.org/eco/outlook/greece-economic-forecast-summary.htm
• 2.5% https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/economic-performance-and-forecasts/economic-performance-country/greece/economic-forecast-greece_en

Good for the EU.

[observer90210]

The greeks (the commoners that is, not the elites),  were better off before the EU and the €uro !

Edited November 14, 2017 by observer90210

[BuaBS]

But then again , it's all funny money , printed out of nowhere . Thanks ECB.

[observer90210]

1 hour ago, BuaBS said:

But then again , it's all funny money , printed out of nowhere . Thanks ECB.

you are totally right...and above all they even are going to stop printing the €uro 500,-- denominations from next year onwards !!...how will the poor EU elites manage to smuggle out their cash from the EU russian roulette to safely deposit offshore !!

Edited November 14, 2017 by observer90210

[coulson]

4 hours ago, observer90210 said:

The greeks (the commoners that is, not the elites),  were better off before the EU and the €uro !

Yes, a few thousand years ago. 

 

The birthplace of democracy, and corruption.

 

The EU bailed them out

[observer90210]

22 minutes ago, coulson said:

Yes, a few thousand years ago. 

 

The birthplace of democracy, and corruption.

 

The EU bailed them out

Agree that definately today Platon or Socrate would jump out of their graves on what has become of Greece. Yet the middle class, retirees do feel that their conditions of living were better off before the EU. And much of the world still enjoy spending long summers in many of the divine Greek Islands !!

Edited November 14, 2017 by observer90210

[USPatriot]

14 hours ago, bert bloggs said:

No its Britain they want to open our wallet ,so that they can give the money away to countrys like Greece ,while our own pensioners go without .

That is one reason why the briext is good. And one more reason the EU do sent want any country to leave the EU.

 

I wonder when France will have its hand out for money

 

 

[jacko45k]

20 hours ago, jenny2017 said:

Merkel, open your wallet....

 

That's a lot of Ouzo and Suflaki though...

She can afford it, big payout from the UK for Brexit expected!

[Stargeezr]

Greece is bankrupt, and this is just a small bandaid  fix by that politician.

Sad really

Geezer

[puck2]

21 hours ago, thaiguzzi said:

They'd be better off  going back to the Drachma and giving up on the Euro...

In this thread the old wisdom is demonstrated: the bigger the blatant ignorance about facts – the bigger the open mouth.

 

Fact is

• when Greece ask for the EU-membership it didn't fulfill the EU-conditions (the last 3 years budget deficit shouldn't exceed 3%). The Greeks manipulated this „serious“ problem with the secret and not declared support of Goldmann Sachs. They booked Goldman Sach's 2.8 billion „Euro-financing“ (currency-SWAPs-2%), 15 years) not into the budget. Problem criminally solved.

• That means, before entering the EU the Greeks lived beyond their means

  • unreliable budget policy; very high state deficits over the years

  • lack of competitiveness; the money paid for productivity was to high

  • high standard of nepotism and cronyism

  • corruption and shadow economy

  • inefficient and uncontrolled financial and tax policy

 

The Greeks got used to this status of spending more money than having earned. And therefore they „enjoyed“ the intended financial support of the EU. BTW, partly paid by the UK, too. So, they could have a better life outside of the EU than receiving EU(RO)-Money? You are joking.

 

Everybody knows, returning form a higher standard of living to a lower one is very hard for the people.

 

I guess Tsripas would like to give some money back to the people, mostly hit by the crisis – as it's  „normal“ for the next re-election. The current better economical conditions in Greece are related to Erdogan's autocratic policy, especially in the tourist sector. Result, a big number of European vacationers switched from Turkey to Greece and Spain.

 

Edited November 15, 2017 by puck2