Cyprus Support Scheme against Covid-19 outbreak

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On March 15th, 2020, the Government of the Republic of Cyprus unveiled new measures to combat the impact cause by the Covid-19 crisis. Some of these measures include:

“Special Leave” allowance for parents, not exceeding the amount of €1,000 (€1,200 for single parent families), which will be granted:

• Up to 4 weeks to parents who work in the private sector for the care of children up to 15 years old as follows:
  • To one of the two parents at any given time;
  • If they cannot work remotely or with a flexible schedule; and
  • If there is no support at home after consultation with the employer

• Public Sector: Appropriate action to replace the employees who must necessarily be present at work but have to stay at home for the care of their children will be taken.

• Employees whose employment must be terminated by the employer due to emergency measures or by employers whose turnover will drop by more than 25% (comparatively to last year’s respective month), will be entitled to unemployment benefits for as long as the business’ operations are suspended.

• Businesses that employ up to 5 people, provided that they retain their employees and that their turnover has been reduced by more than 25%, will be entitled to a subsidy in amount of 70% of the employee salaries.

• An average monthly sick leave allowance of 800€ will be given to employees and self-employed, especially to:
  • People facing health issues
  • people who are forced to abstain from work
  • people over 63 years old

Additionally, please note that:

• For the months of April and May, employers and employees will not be liable to pay the increased contributions to the General Healthcare System (GHS); contributions will be paid at the old (lower rates);
• VAT payments will be temporarily frozen for companies whose turnover is less than €1million or whose turnover has dropped by more than 25%;
• Reduction of VAT from 19% to 17% over a two-month period and from 9% to 7% over a three-and-a-half-month period;
• Tax statements will be submitted until the end of May 2020 instead of the end of March 2020;
• Release of capital reserves for the Cypriot systemic banks by the ECB concern of around €1,3 billion
• Civil services and Public sector in general, as well as, civil servants in the Department of Education, with the exception of Essential services, will be able to work:
o Remotely when possible
o With skeleton staff for emergency tasks

Stay tuned to Eurofast’s updates as we continue to follow the situation closely.