Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has announced an additional Christmas bonus for health workers, low-income pensioners and people with disabilities who receive benefits. The additional bonus aims to reduce the shock of rising prices in favor of those fighting the pandemic and vulnerable groups in society. The bonus will be paid once, BGNES reports.
Speaking to parliament, Mitsotakis said 100,000 hospital staff and emergency workers would receive an additional bonus equal to half their monthly salary. 900 euros will be paid within December.
Retirees with low pensions will receive an additional benefit of 250 euros plus 50 euros for each family member. 250 euros will be distributed to 173,000 people with disabilities.
According to the media, low-income pensioners who are entitled to the bonus are those with up to 7,200 euros taxable income (600 euros per month) and an annual family income of up to 14,400 euros. The value of taxable real estate must not exceed a total of EUR 200,000. The measure will affect about 800,000 people, the website Keep Talking Greece announced
The total amount for the Christmas bonuses is 338.5 million euros and will be paid by the end of December.
According to Mitsotakis, the rise in prices is a temporary phenomenon and is due to the “global price crisis”, which will last until the first half of 2022.
After the blockade, demand growth rose in prices and inflation. This has led to higher energy prices.
The Greek Prime Minister noted that this is not the first time I have had such inflationary trends, and gave the example of the European debt crisis in 2010-2011.
“And then the phenomenon turned out to be temporary, so even now I think we will see a de-escalation of the phenomenon in the first quarter of 2022,” he stressed.
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