THE STATE will launch a new scheme to help pensioners living below the poverty line this December, giving around €57 million to over 70,000 elderly people, the Finance Ministry yesterday.
According to the Ministry, around 53,000 homes will benefit from the new scheme for low-income pensioners. Those eligible include households with incomes below the poverty line, with at least one pensioner regardless of age who receives a pension from the Social Insurance Fund, or other pension or a pension from a professional plan implemented in Cyprus.
The scheme is set to run through 2010. The poverty line for 2009 was set at €10,398 annually, or €799.85 a month, for households with one pensioner, and €15,597 a year, or €1,199.77 a month, for households containing two people. For those with more than two people, the poverty line rises accordingly.
The benefit will be paid out based on the financial conditions of each household, taking into consideration the income of all members of the household, pensions received from Cyprus and abroad, special grants, employment, rent, interests and dividends.
In April this year, the state handed out another €90 million in benefits for pensioners in the form of a one-off Easter bonus across the board and pension increases for those below the poverty line.
Since then however the island has officially slipped into recession with the state scrambling to tighten its belt and collect unpaid taxes to boost coffers. Asked where the money for the Christmas gift would come from one government source said: “It means there will be restraint on some other things.”
The source said this was part of President Demetris Christofia’s pre-election programme to help those in need. The benefits are targeted and take into consideration the person’s income he said.
At last count, Cyprus holds the top spot in the EU when it comes to the risk of poverty for the elderly. A Eurostat survey in July indicated that 51 per cent of people over 65 in Cyprus were at risk of poverty, compared to 30 per cent in the UK, while the EU average is 19 per cent.
“The standard of living of the poor is three to four times higher in the countries with the highest income than in the countries with the lowest income,” the Eurostat report read.
In order to receive the state benefit, pensioners must apply to the Ministry’s Grants and Benefits Service. Application forms and other informative material will be circulated on November 3. For more information, call 22459911, or the Citizen’s Bureaus in all towns.
