EU Approves €3B of Portuguese State Aid Against Coronavirus

The European Commission stated on Sunday it approved 3 billion euros of Portuguese guarantee schemes for small and medium sized companies affected by coronavirus epidemic.

“The economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak is severe. We need to act in a coordinated manner, to help Europe’s economy weather this storm and bounce back strongly afterwards. The four Portuguese guarantee schemes for SMEs and midcaps are an important step in this direction,” said Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy at the Commission. 

Portugal notified to the Commission under the Temporary Frameworkfour guarantee schemes for SMEs and midcaps affected by the Coronavirus outbreak, active in four different sectors: (i) tourism; (ii) restaurants (and other similar activities); (iii) extractive and Manufacturing industry; and (iv) travel agency activities, touristic animation, event organisation (and similar activities). The four schemes have a total budget of €3 billion.

The schemes aim at limiting the risks associated with issuing operating loans to those companies that are severely affected by the economic impact of the Coronavirus outbreak. The objective of the measures is to ensure that these companies have sufficient liquidity to safeguard jobs and continue their activities faced with the difficult situation caused by the Coronavirus outbreak.