FINANCE Minister Takis Klerides said yesterday that the Cabinet had approved a subsidy on diesel for agricultural purposes, the setting up of a technical committee for farming debts, and a £500,000 cash injection into the farmers’ social insurance fund.
Announcing the decision, Klerides said the decisions had been taken under the special agricultural policy being adopted by the government as of January 1, 2003.
Klerides said that according to the plan the government would return to the farmers any taxes on petrol and essential agricultural items as much as the cabinet can within their powers.
“With this arrangement farmers will be paying a reduced price for the diesel they will be using in agriculture,” Klerides said.
On the farming debts, Klerides said after fully studying the issue the cabinet came to the conclusion that it was not possible to identify which of the farmers’ loans had been given and used for agriculture.
He said that a technical committee had been set up to study the matter and would issue a report before the end of the year to the ministerial committee for agriculture, which comprises the ministers of Finance, Commerce and Agriculture, who will give their findings to the cabinet for a final decision.
The cabinet also decided to allow foreign farm workers who have completed four years in Cyprus to extend by a further two years provided they go through official channels.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
