Greece’s government announced plans to handout about 1 billion euro to disenfranchised citizens following favorable budget expectations for the year.
The support is aimed at Greek citizens who have suffered the most during the seven-year crisis that has crippled the economy, forced hundreds of thousands of people to move abroad and led to skyrocketing unemployment— especially amongst youth.
“The surplus outperformance which will be distributed to social groups that have suffered the biggest pressure during the financial crisis, will be close to 1 billion euros,” government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos told reporters.
The government spokesman said that final decisions will be made in late November on how and when the “social dividends” will be distributed.
According to Tzanakopoulos, the economy is expected to return to almost 2 per cent growth and achieve a surplus, the proceeds of which will be distributed.
Last year in a surprise move, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced a similar Christmas bonus to pensioners that angered Greece’s European creditors.
Today’s announcement came a few days after Tsipras met with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington where a multi-billion dollar military transaction was announced between the two countries during which Greece would upgrade its fleet of military jets.
Trump praised the deal as beneficial for creating thousands of U.S. jobs while many in Greece cried foul that the country was in no position to spend that kind of money on military projects.
