Finance committee to review government request for €75 million

The House finance committee on Monday began reviewing the government’s request for €75 million in extra expenditures for the current fiscal year.

Of the €75 million in the supplementary budget filed, the lion’s share – €54 million – concerns government subsidies on electricity bills.

The €54 million relates to covering the expense for the January to April 2023 period.

The current round of electricity subsidies expires at the end of April.

Over the weekend, the government intimated it might extend the support to beyond April, given that fuel prices – and therefore electricity – remain high.

President Nikos Christodoulides said the cabinet was considering the matter.

However, the supplementary budget just filed to parliament concerns the period ending April – not beyond that.

Media reports meanwhile said the IMF, during a recent visit to Cyprus, advised the government to discontinue the electricity subsidies programme, as it was not a sufficiently targeted measure.

Beyond the electricity subsidies, the supplementary budget features €6 million in expenses for the accommodation of Ukrainian refugees, covering the period November 2022 to February 2023. Of this amount, €1.6 million relates to the accommodation of minors applying for international protection.

An additional €8.5 million is for the accommodation of Ukrainian refugees for the period March to December 2023, and another €6.5 million is for accommodating unaccompanied minors who applied for international protection, for the same period.

In parliament, an official from the Deputy Ministry of Tourism, requesting these funds, said that approximately 3,000 Ukrainian nationals are currently being hosted in 22 hotels across the island.

Overall, some 20,000 Ukrainians have been afforded temporary protected status here since the conflict in Ukraine broke out in February of last year.

The same official said around 300 unaccompanied minors were staying in three hotels.