The government is going to extend the home loan subsidy support scheme to more families and wants the bank to offer a flat rate to those who already have credit, the finance minister announced.
In an interview with the newspaper PublicFernando Medina, in this extension, speaks to families with an effort rate of more than 50%, once the index exceeds 3%, explaining that since the indices already exceed this value in all maturities, “the majority of families that meet the criteria of the law will be able to benefit from support related to their household”
Fernando Medina also points to a “second dimension” of this change that the government plans to implement, so that all families receiving this support will benefit from a rate increase of 75% compared to the 3% (now it is 50% in the fifth and sixth scale).
Asked whether the measure in force had no effect. Medina replies: “Interest rates are at a level where they are already too high for the burden that families can bear, namely in the most recent contracts, which had not yet risen enough for the mechanism to be effective”.
“A final important point of this change that we are implementing is that this decision will apply to all situations from the beginning of 2023″clarified.
In this interview, the official also indicates that the possibility of “significantly expanding” the range of fixed rate regimes with the banks and the Bank of Portugal is being worked on – and will be presented in September.
“A lot of families ask, ‘This is going up, but how long will it go up? And how much will it go up?’ And the answer to this second problem, in particular, has to go through much greater proliferation and the ability to use fixed rate regimes or at least fixed rate regimes over a period of time.explains.
In the interview, Fernando Medina also mentions that the government will evaluate the possibility of extending the zero VAT measure on some foods, which was extended until the end of the year.
“Yes, let’s analyze it, depending on inflation, interest rates, needs at any time”he claimed.
With regard to the privatization of TAP, he adds that the previous step of making the process official has already taken place, which was the choice of the evaluators, and that once they have released their report, the government will be able to pass the decree-law setting out the general principles of privatization of the company, which should happen in September.
“Our expectation is that it will happen in the month of September and this decree is what formally marks the start of the privatization process”he says.
Still talking about the teachers’ protests, he explains that all civil servants saw their careers frozen in the years of the ‘troika’, which from 2015 “was doing very important work to restore normality”, but he wonders: “If it has been done to one appeal, would you agree that it has not been done to others?”
“We must treat everyone absolutely equally”insists.
Source: DN
