Almost 13 bn spent on basic income in 2 yrs - INPS

(ANSA) - ROME, APR 27 - Almost 13 billion euros has been spent on the government's 'citizenship wage' basic income in the two years since it was introduced, pensions and social security agency INPS said Tuesday.
    Between April 2019 and March 2021, INPS said, 12.947 billion euros have been spent on the measure, a flagship policy pledge of the populist 5-Star Movement (M5S).
    January this year was the month with the highest amount of monthly spending at almost 700 million euros (692,878,066 euros).
    The number of households that have received at least one monthly payment of the benefit between January and March this year is 1,484,444, making a total of almost 3.4 million individuals involved.
    The average monthly cheque was 553 euros per household.
    The figures include a smaller number of people who got the 'citizenship pension'. (ANSA).