These countries in Europe have spent €300 billion combined to ease the cost of living crisis
-
Loading... - Daan Dekker
- 23 Sep 2022
- 80 Views
- 0 Like
- 0 Comment
The amount of money eurozone governments are committing to help consumers and businesses cope with the energy and cost-of-living crisis is quickly approaching €300 billion.
According data compiled by Reuters and think tank Bruegel, the bloc's governments have already committed €282 billion - 2.3 per cent of their combined gross domestic product (GDP) - to relief measures and several have plans for billions more in the pipeline.
The following is a breakdown of the fiscal packages in the bloc.
Germany
The government presented on September 4 a third package worth €65 billion, bringing its total to €95 billion since February.
It includes benefit hikes and a public transport subsidy and is to be financed with a tax on power companies and by bringing forward Germany's implementation of the planned 15 per cent global minimum corporate tax.
France
The French finance ministry estimates measures taken since last year will cost €67 billion, including €24 billion to cover gas and electricity price caps and subsidised rebates on vehicle fuel.
Extra spending this year has been covered by better-than-expected tax income, which has allowed the government to stick with its target for a budget deficit of 5 per cent of GDP.
Italy
The Italian government has so far committed 52 billion euros and flagged plans for a new multi-billion euro package which one source told Reuters could be worth at least 10 billion euros.
The outgoing government has financed his packages with increased revenue from value added tax (VAT) on higher energy costs and by adjusting other areas of the state budget.
The government has refused to hike this year's fiscal deficit above an April target of 5.6 per cent of GDP. Read More...
