Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 14-04-23

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Greek debt relief to be discussed at Euro Working Group meeting

[02] Some 312,000 'social dividend' applications filed so far

[01] Greek debt relief to be discussed at Euro Working Group meeting

The government considers that the circumstances are favourable for Greece, as the meeting will be held a day after the ratification of the 2013 primary surplus (seen at 3.4 billion euros, according to the Eurostat or 1.5 billion euros, according to the troika) by Eurostat.

The Euro Working Group will also prepare the agenda for the Eurogroup on May 5, during which Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras is expected to make a political intervention on the issue of debt relief based on the decision of the Eurogroup on November 27, 2012, given that the government considers that Greece meets all the conditions to start the debate on the debt such as meeting 90 percent of the targets of the programme.

Besides, according to government officials, the approval by the Euro Working Group of the 6.3 billion euro tranche to Greece will certify that the country has met around 90 percent of the targets.

During the Euro Working Group, the Greek side is also expected to present a four-page memo on the main issues of the development plan for the Greek economy, which was finalized on Tuesday.

[02] Some 312,000 'social dividend' applications filed so far

Some 312,000 applications have been filed so far, 70,000 of which -- amounting to 45 million euros -- have been provisionally approved, 111,000 were rejected while the filing process of 132,000 requests has not been concluded yet.

Citizens eligible for the so-called "social dividend", or section of Greece's primary surplus returned to the more vulnerable groups in society as a one-off benefit application, can file their applications until the end of June.

The dividend will start from 500 euros per beneficiary and could exceed 1,000 euros in the case of families with many children.

Those who will file an application by the end of April will see the one-off benefit credited to their bank accounts by May 10.

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