New fuel aid, food prices, guaranteed loans… future measures for purchasing power

This Monday, July 4, Bruno Le Maire, the Minister of Economy and Finance explained new proposals concerning purchasing power. Bruno Le Maire, the Minister of Economy and Finance detailed on France Inter this Monday, July 4, certain measures which should be integrated into the bill on purchasing power. 1. Fuel aid for employees on low incomes The Minister explained that he was going to propose aid for people who have low incomes and who are obliged to take their car to work and therefore for whom the increase fuels is extremely disabling. “We are working to see if we can put in place more generous compensation for all those who are forced to take their vehicle to work,” explains the minister. Before adding: “It is not acceptable that today in France that you have employees, work-study trainees, young people, who tell you I cannot go to work because it costs me too much.” The conditions presented by the Minister are as follows: people must be salaried or assimilated, specifies the Minister, but also that they are obliged to use their vehicle in order to be able to go to work and will only concern the lowest incomes . This aid will be intended “for people who do not cover 12,000 km a year, such as “big drivers”, who take their car to go to work and who can no longer make ends meet because the price of fuel is too high.” “So it is a compensation that would concern all those who work, all those who are forced to take their car to go to work and obviously according to the level of income, that is to say those who have the lowest incomes. That must be part of the parliamentary debate, it must be concentrated on those who have middle incomes or low incomes and who today say that they can no longer afford to go to work. Fuel: “We are looking at whether we can set up more generous compensation for all those who are forced to take their vehicle to go to work”, declares the minister @BrunoLeMaire. “It would obviously depend on the level of income”#le79inter pic.twitter.com/Li61mqoJJ4— France Inter (@franceinter) July 4, 2022 2. Price control in food Food prices are exploding. Faced with this outbreak, the Minister explains that checks will be carried out to identify the revolting and unacceptable margins that are made. And he adds that people who take advantage of these margins will be sanctioned. “On food, we have already initiated a thousand checks on a certain number of products. We are going to do more because it is not enough.” Controls sector by sector will be put in place, from production, to processing, to transport, to the distribution of the product “to see if there are unacceptable margins which are taken by some at each stage of the distribution and from production”. Bruno Le Maire goes even further: “I want to make sure that at no time, at any place in the chain, are there people who take advantage of it and those who take advantage of it will be sanctioned”.
“We will not let the profiteers of the inflationary crisis pass.” Inflation: controls will be carried out, “sector by sector”, to avoid “revolting margins” in the food sector, explains @BrunoLeMaire. “We will not let the profiteers of the inflationary crisis pass” #le79inter pic.twitter.com/hP9bg4l7w2— France Inter (@franceinter) July 4, 2022 3. The 50% threshold raised for food promotions On food promotions that are limited to a threshold of 34%, Bruno Le Maire proposes to raise the upper threshold to 50% discount in distribution. The Minister of Economy and Finance explains: “I propose that we raise this threshold to 50% so that there are discount prices for those who need it.” 4. Business aid: guaranteed loan, spread, energy Bruno Le Maire has not forgotten businesses in his purchasing power aid project. He detailed several boosts, including the extension of the state-guaranteed loan for businesses. “We are going to take three very concrete decisions. We are going to extend the state-guaranteed loan called resilience which was supposed to end this summer, it will continue until the end of the year.” He completed his remarks by maintaining the spread of loans for entrepreneurs who are unable to repay their drafts. “We will maintain the mission which makes it possible to support entrepreneurs who are unable to repay”, by spreading the maturities of their loan up to ten years. “All companies can see if they can spread their loan so as not to have repayment conditions that are too difficult.” Before announcing new direct energy aid. “We provide direct aid to companies that consume a lot of energy. Companies that consume a lot of electricity or gas will be able to benefit from aid ranging from 2 to 25 million euros.”