The State will provide " the necessary financial means as long as the crisis lasts ", to avoid " a sinking " of the economy linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, said Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire in the Journal du Sunday.
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" I prefer that we go into debt today, avoiding a shipwreck, rather than let whole sections of our economy be destroyed ," he said in an interview with the JDD. According to the minister, " over eight days, 20 billion euros in loans " guaranteed by the state were " requested by more than 100,000 companies ". To help companies overcome the shock of confinement, the state announced that it would guarantee up to 300 billion euros in bank loans, the equivalent of 15% of French gross domestic product (GDP).
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In addition, 5 million employees benefit from partial unemployment and " in three days, 450,000 small businesses have applied for the solidarity fund ," said Bruno Le Maire, adding that these systems " will be replenished as necessary ".
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The solidarity fund set up by the State provides 1,500 euros maximum compensation for small businesses having suffered at least 50% drop in turnover compared to March and April 2019, plus aid of 2,000 euros granted on a case-by-case basis for those threatened with bankruptcy.
“ We have no trouble raising money in the financial markets. Our interest rates remain at reasonable levels , "said the minister, hoping that after the crisis" a recovery plan, at national and European level "will" restart the machine as quickly as possible ".
As for large companies in difficulty, the minister said he had " transmitted to the president and the prime minister a list of around twenty weakened strategic companies and solutions to help them: loan guarantees, capital increase, recapitalization, and, in last resort, nationalization ”. " These can only be temporary nationalizations ," he continued, while the question of the nationalization of Air France, of which almost the entire fleet is grounded, is regularly raised.
He recalled that " none of the big companies that appeal to the State for their cash will have to pay a dividend " and invited the other big companies " to reduce by at least a third the payment of dividends in 2020 ".
