This Saturday, the PCP general secretary said the government’s new measures on home loans are “insufficient, too late” and “miss the mark”, leaving banks “untouchable by choice”.
Speaking at the public meeting “Housing problems and PKP proposals” in Almada, Paulo Raimundo noted that the new measures “may be important for those who can access them, leave intact by their choice and only by choice the main “responsible and at the same time the main beneficiary” of the situation in the housing and communal services sector, meaning the banking sector.
These are “insufficient, belated measures and, above all, that completely fail to achieve the main goal,” criticized Paulo Raimundo.
The General Secretary of the PKP argued that “they are not enough because, by loosening the tension of the rope, they leave a noose around the necks of those who have a mortgage” and “are late because there is nothing that justifies measures, even if limited, then in end of the tenth increase in interest rates.”
“And they miss the mark, because the target is to take the bank’s profits and ensure that it is those profits that support and keep interest rates rising. Not a measure, not even a principle, a line, a minimal approximation of a measure, this reduces bank profits by 11 million a day,” he criticized.
Paulo Raimundo stated that “this is unacceptable, it is unfair and this situation cannot be tolerated any longer.”
“These government decisions not only prolong the unsustainable level of fees paid to banks, but they in no way guarantee that these same fees will not rise again, as the European Central Bank (ECB) has admitted,” he said.
The PKP leader said that while the government talks about “reducing and stabilizing bank payments”, it is “in practice pushing families to defer those payments that are now slightly reduced by two years and will have to be paid in full in the near future.” .
“As for bank profits, nothing. It hurts those who have mortgages, everyone,” he lamented.
The PKP secretary general also added that the measures approved this week prove that the “More Housing” package does not solve “a single problem” and in practice means “more transfers to banks and more benefits for real estate funds.”
“If there were any doubts about the usefulness of this package, for which the PS again stubbornly voted single-handedly, they were dispelled last Thursday. [com o anúncio das novas medidas]. If the More Housing package were so effective, then of course there would be no need to introduce new measures,” he said.
The PKP secretary general said what was needed at the moment was “courage, determination” and policies that “stand up to the banks” and use “their millions to support higher interest rates.”
“We need to say ‘no more talk’, we need to protect homeownership, stop foreclosures and evictions, prevent speculation and introduce a 0.43% cap on all rents next year. The time has come to introduce a moratorium for two years, suspending depreciation. capital and pay interest only at a rate equal to that at which banks finance themselves,” he argued.
On Thursday, the Council of Ministers approved three measures in the housing lending sector to soften the impact of rising interest rates on families.
One of the measures ensures that the interest rate does not exceed 70% of the index (Euribor), while the other extends the support for interest subsidies on home loans from 720 to 800 euros.
The government is also maintaining the suspension of fees for early repayment of home loans.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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