(Bloomberg) -- Greece plans to cover 10% of food expenses for most households over six months starting in February, a measure to be funded by taxing surplus profits of the country’s two oil refiners, Prime Kyriakos Mitsotakis said.

“The fiscal cost will be €650 million,” the premier said Saturday night, before lawmakers started voting on the country’s 2023 budget. This budget is the first in 12 years to be implemented outside the post-bailout monitoring framework that the country was subject to following the financial crisis.

The extra support for food expenses is designed to cover 85% of households, or some 8.4 million citizens, the premier added. The government has so far spent just over €15 billion to mitigate the increasing cost of living. 

Athens sees the economy growing by 1.8% in 2023, down from 5.6% this year. Growth will help lower public debt as a percentage of gross domestic product to 159.3%, while the government eyes a return to a primary surplus of 0.7% of GDP in 2023.

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