As part of its plans to reduce the hardships produced by soaring energy costs on businesses and households, Italy is preparing to set aside €15 billion ($14.6 billion), according to a new Reuters report.

The funds will be raised in part by repurposing some of the €9 billion the government had set aside for a poverty relief scheme.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has already announced a postponement of measures such as tax cuts and higher pensions which she had previously promised, so that those funds can be repurposed to deal with the deteriorating energy crisis.

The report indicated the bulk of the money for the new program however, will come from increasing next year’s budget deficit from the 3.4% of the gross domestic product that the government had previously projected in September, to 4.5% of GDP.

The EU had instituted bloc-wide rules limiting government deficits to 3% of GDP, however those rules were suspended when the coronavirus pandemic began. The European Commission had intended to rescind the suspension of the rules, however it postponed reinstating its fiscal discipline policy until 2024 once the war in Ukraine began.

In October, Italy’s national statistics office, Istat, reported that its  provision figures indicated inflation in Italy hit 11.9% year over year, the highest rate seen since March of 1984.

On Friday the new budget estimates will be released and later on they will be included in the 2023 budget law.