SLOVAK farmers should get 80 percent of their direct payments due for this year, around Sk7.8 billion (€205 million), by the end of this year, the SITA news agency wrote.
"We will deliver the decision on payments to regional departments this and next week," Agriculture Minister Zsolt Simon told a news conference on December 5, adding that farmers will get the remaining Sk2 billion (€52 million) at the beginning of next year.
"Including some other forms of support, farmers will thus get total of Sk9.2 billion (€242 million) by the end of this year," said the minister.
In addition to this money, the Agricultural Payment Agency (PPA) had already paid Sk3 billion (€79 million) in subsidies to farmers since the beginning of this year by the end November.
The PPA recieved 13,800 applications for direct payments this year. After the payments are paid out, Simon expects the agricultural sector to close this year with a similar result as last year, when it made a profit of Sk1.6 billion (€42 million).
Compiled by Martina Jurinová from press reports
TheSlovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the informationpresented in its Flash News postings.
