The Council of Ministers approved on Wednesday the second supplementary 2022 budget of a total of 345.1 million euro, which corresponds to 0.4% of GDP.
In statements after the meeting of the Council of Ministers, Minister of Finance Constantinos Petrides noted that 30 million euro of the second supplementary budget are for the continuation of the subsidy due to the increased price of electricity charges.
Regarding the subsidy for heating oil, he said that just like diesel and petrol, this subsidy continues.
These, he said, are subsidized through reduced excise duty and pointed out that Cyprus is one of the few countries that have reduced excise duty on fuel. For heating oil, it is 6.4 cents per liter and for diesel and petrol around 8.5 cents per liter.
Other smaller funds of the second supplementary budget, he said, include for example 10 million euro for hosting Ukrainian refugees, one million euro for hosting unaccompanied children looking for asylum, increased government funds to some universities, support measures for farmers of 4.4 million euro, purchase of medicines and vaccines 3.8 million euro, plan for treatment of Cypriots abroad 3 million euro, increased social benefits for people with disabilities 1.4 million euro.
Recalling that the first supplementary budget of this year was 102 million euro, he said it was for covering measure costs due to COVID, as well as for the support of some social groups and the support to the agriculture and health sectors, among others.
The Minister of Finance stated that economic forecast remains unchanged.
There is no change in the forecasts for the fiscal debt or any other macroeconomic indicators, he said, adding that this is because “we had foreseen that, due to the emergency situation, this money would be provided through supplementary budgets”.
Source: Cyprus News Agency