Yesterday, Greece has announced fresh austerity measures inorder to secure a bailout installment and save the country from bankruptcy.
Greece said it would deepen pension cuts, extend a painful property tax hike and put tens of thousands of workers on notice.
Under the measures announced yesterday, monthly pensions will be cut by 20 percent above a $1,636 threshold, while retirees aged under 55 will lose 40 percent of their pensions above the sum of $1,367.
The tax-free annual income limit will be cut to $6,818 from $10,908 as of this year, while the number of civil servants to be suspended on partial pay will rise to 30,000 by the end of this year, from 20,000. After a year of forced idleness on 60 percent of their base salary, these workers will either be shifted to other state jobs or fired – despite having been hired with a lifetime job guarantee.
The public sector employs nearly 800,000 in the country of 11 million, and Greece’s creditors have repeatedly urged cuts.
The government also pledged to speed up privatizations and open up closely regulated professions to competition.
