Flooding and rent top of cabinet’s agenda

Cabinet on Wednesday rubberstamped the ‘mortgage to rent’ scheme, and some €240,000 as compensation for damages incurred during last month’s flooding.

The funds will go to Larnaca and Famagusta which were hit the hardest. In Larnaca, there were 92 requests for compensation, 74 of which were primary residences. In Famagusta, there were 165 requests, of which 33 concerned primary residences.

According to Interior Minister Nicos Nouris, the government will offer compensation for primary residences and then carry out checks for the remaining properties on whether they are insured.

Damages in Larnaca amount to €140,000 and in Famagusta €78,000.

Ministers also agreed to increase funding for the ‘home for women’ by offering more financial support to Spavo, the association for the prevention and handling of violence in the family. The budget amounts to €17.8 million for 2023.

Where the ‘mortgage to rent’ scheme is concerned, cabinet said its approval followed negotiations with European bodies and will now fall under the responsibility of the commissioner for state aid control.

The ministers also approved the €2.5m donation to the Greek air force announced by President Nicos Anastasiades while he was in Athens, in memory of the two pilots killed on a F-4 Phantom jet.

Cabinet gave the go-ahead for a scheme aimed at digitally upgrading businesses, which falls under the recovery and resilience programme. The total funding amounts to €10m with the opportunity to go up to €14m pending approval.

The scheme benefits existing and new small to medium sized businesses that will use their funds to digitally upgrade their services, including online shopping.

The ministers also approved €455m for the government’s agriculture policy 2023-2027.