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On Sunday, March 15th 2020, the Cypriot Government unveiled a series of measures aimed at assisting small and medium sized companies address the adverse effects of the Covid-19 crisis. Some of the measures include:
GHS- An important change is introduced in the contributions paid to the GHS system. The contributions to cover both outpatient and inpatient care planned to increase to 2.65% for employees and pensioners, 2.90% for employers, 4.70% for the government and 4% for the self-employed will be processed as planned.
The Government announced on Sunday that for April and May employers and employees will not be liable to pay the increased contributions to the General Healthcare System (GHS).
Granting of Special leave – “Special Leave” will be granted to parents working in the private sector who will remain home to care for children up to 15 years old. For this “special leave”, which can last up to 4 weeks for a salary of up to €2,500, the following has been defined:
(i) 60% of the salary will be paid for the first €1,000 of the parent’s salary, and
(ii) For the next € 1,000 of the salary, a 40% allowance will be paid.
In case of single parent families, the rate of payment of the allowance is set at 70% and 50%, respectively.
Business Support Plan- for small businesses that employ up to 5 people, provided that they retain their employees at work and their turnover has been reduced by more than 25%, the Plan provides for a subsidy of 70% of employee salaries. The terms and conditions of the Scheme will be announced shortly.
A more detailed circular will follow once all details will be announced. Stay tuned to Eurofast’s updates as we continue to follow the situation closely.
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