Last night, in a televised address, the Portuguese government, through the intermediary of the Portuguese Prime Minister, Antonio Costa, presented its anti-inflation plan to deal with rising gas and electricity prices. Measures that will undoubtedly help the vast majority of the population to cope with the soaring prices.
Portuguese government presents its anti-inflation plant
As highlighted by the Portuguese government last night, the support package2.4 billion to mitigate the effects of inflation and rising energy costs. For the record, the measures concern the following areas: income, children and youth, pensioners, electricity, gas and fuel, rents and transport.
What kind of support is given:
- Reduction of VAT on the supply of electricity from the current 13 % to 6 %, a measure that will be in effect until December 2023 ;
- Extension until the end of the year of the suspension of the increase of the carbon tax, the return to citizens of the additional VAT revenues and the reduction of the PSI.
- Allocation of an extraordinary payment of 125 euros to each citizen who does not receive a pension and whose income does not exceed 2,700 euros per month;
- Allocation to all families, regardless of their income, of an extraordinary payment of 50 euros for each dependent child up to the age of 24;
- Payment to pensioners of 14 and a half months of pension, instead of the usual 14 months, with the additional half-board paid in October;
- Increase in pensions in 2023 of 4.43 % for pensions up to 886 euros, 4.07 % for pensions between 886 and 2,659 euros, and 3.53 % for other pensions subject to discounting;
- Freeze on public transportation passes and CPR ticket prices for the entire year 2023;
- Limiting maximum residential and commercial rent discounting to 2 % in 2023;
- Creation of extraordinary support for rentals, through the allocation of a tax benefit to owners on the income from the property in terms of IRS or IRC.
The eight measures were approved at a Council of Ministers extraordinary meeting held on Monday and presented the same day in the night by the Prime Minister, António Costa, in Lisbon. The promulgation of the diploma by the President of the Republic occurred while the Prime Minister was still completing the presentation of these measures during his press conference at the National Palace of Ajuda.
