Greek finance minister Euclid Tsakalotos on Tuesday evening reiterated that a "social dividend" will be doled out by the government by the end of the year, and that this prospect has already received creditors' approval.
Tsakalotos made the statement while appearing on the state-run broadcaster's newscast, saying the one-off social benefit will reach 1.1 to 1.2 billion euros. The money, as the coalition leftist-rightist government points out, is the excess from the primary budget surplus target (as a percentage of GDP) that is forecast to be surpassed for 2017.
The opposition, on its part, has vehemently charged that whatever budget surplus is recorded in 2017 is the result of a "tax tsunami" unleashed in 2016, a policy that it claims has dramatically squeezed the country's middle classes and asphyxiated the real economy.
Tsakalotos, previously a UK-based economics professor before delving into Greek radical leftist politics, expressed a view that the primary budget surplus for 2017 will finally conclude at 2.2 percent of GDP. The fiscal target is mandated by institutional creditors, and has been accepted by the Tsipras government following negotiations, especially ones over the past year.
In a bid to preclude stinging criticism that accompanied last December's 617-million-euro "holiday bonus", which the government extended to roughly 1.2 million pensioners - of all ages - Tsakalotos said this year's "social dividend" will be allocated with specific criteria.
Last year's "yuletide bonus" was divided up and given to any pensioner receiving less than 800 euros in combined social security benefits, regardless of other assets and means.
In other statements, Tsakalotos also again confirmed that the still bailout-dependent country is planning to venture into capital markets, "three or four times", before the third bailout ends in August 2018.
