Spain's Deputy Prime Minister and Economic Affairs Minister Nadia Calvino, seen in Madrid, Spain on Jan. 4, 2020, says she expects the Spanish economy to experience an asymmetrical V-shaped recovery.Susana Vera/Reuters
Spain’s government on Tuesday outlined its burden-sharing scheme for banks as part of a new set of state-backed credits to boost companies’ investment capacity, releasing an initial tranche of €8 billion, Spain’s economy minister Nadia Calvino said.
Speaking after the weekly cabinet meeting, Calvino said that €5 billion of the first tranche of the new aid package would go mainly to small and mid-sized companies and the self-employed, and the rest to bigger companies.
The package worth €40 billion, initially announced earlier in July together with a €10 billion fund to boost companies’ solvency, is designed to facilitate and promote investments in digital transformation and green energy.
As part of the scheme, the state will guarantee around 80 per cent of unpaid loans to small and mid-sized companies and 70 per cent for bigger ones, in line with a previous scheme of €100 billion approved in March, the minister said.
The guarantees will be extended for eight years, instead of the five years under the previous scheme.
Last week, the Bank of Spain’s governor encouraged the government to extend and recalibrate periodically any stimulus measures, such as the state-backed credit lines.
Calvino also said she expected the Spanish economy to experience an asymmetrical V-shaped recovery after an expected 9.2 per cent decline in 2020 due to the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
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