The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, has already promulgated the Government’s decree establishing exceptional support measures for families to mitigate the effects of inflation.

According to a note published on the official website of the Presidency of the Republic, the Head of State also promulgated the Government’s decree allowing the return of gas for consumers with an annual consumption of less than or equal to 10,000 m3 to the regulated tariff regime.

This note was released by the Presidency of the Republic at a time when Prime Minister António Costa was still finishing the presentation of these and other measures at a press conference at the Palácio Nacional da Ajuda , in Lisbon, after an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers.

Before presenting them publicly, the Prime Minister went to the Belém Palace to present the measures to the President of the Republic in the evening.

According to the statement of this meeting of the Council of Ministers, the decree-law that establishes measures to support families determines “the allocation of an extraordinary payment of 125 euros to each citizen not receiving a pension with income up to 2,700 euros gross per month” and “the allocation to all families, regardless of income, of an extraordinary payment of 50 euros for each dependent child up to 24 years”.

The same decree-law determines “the payment to pensioners of 14 and a half months of pensions, instead of the usual 14 months” and the “extension of the suspension of the increase of the carbon tax, the return to citizens of the additional VAT revenue, and the reduction of the ISP” until the end of the year.

The Government also approved a draft law, to be submitted to Parliament, that foresees a “limitation of 2% of the maximum update of the value of housing rents and commercial rents, in the year 2023” and the “creation of an extraordinary support to renting, through the attribution of a tax benefit on property income”.

In this draft law, the executive also proposes a “reduction of VAT on electricity supply from the current 13 percent to 6 percent, a measure in force until December 2023” and “pension increases, in 2023, of 4.43 percent for pensions up to 886 euros, of 4.07 percent for pensions between 886 and 2,659 euros; and of 3.53 percent for other pensions subject to update”.

According to the statement from the Council of Ministers, “the Government also determined the freezing of prices of public transport passes and tickets in CP throughout the year 2023, ensuring due compensation to this company and transport authorities.”

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