Tax deposit discount proposed for firms making investments

Companies making plans for investments could look forward to a reduction of taxation by 30 percent from 2021 if Greece's creditors approve a government proposal for utilizing the profits of eurozone central banks from Greek bonds (SMPs and ANFAs) for investment purposes.

Finance Minister Christos Staikouras submitted this proposal in writing to the mission chiefs visiting Athens last week for the fifth post-bailout assessment. It was the next step following a Eurogroup decision on December 4 to examine the possibility of Greece using the SMP and ANFA proceeds for investments instead of spending them on servicing the national debt.

Sources say that the government proposal provides for the 4.2 billion euros of bond profits that will be returned to Greece in installments by 2022, to ideally be split almost equally between public and private investments. This means that a...