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Andalucia’s regional government has announced the release of €1,000 million in the first package of financial measures against the coronavirus. €900 million are earmarked for aid to the self-employed and SMEs, and the remaining €100 million will go into a health contingency fund for Intensive Care Units and increase personnel and resources.
The Governing Council has agreed on the first package of urgent measures that will mobilise around 1,000 million euros to face the health alert caused by COVID-19 in Andalusia. The approved decree-law includes financial support actions for the self-employed and small and medium-sized companies that will involve the mobilisation of 900 million euros to support their activity and also includes a provision of 100 million to create a Health contingency fund.
It is an initial contribution of €100 million that will be used to replace the staff affected by the contagion, to reinforce the Intensive Care Units (ICU), as well as to purchase the necessary materials and equipment. To meet the urgent needs determined by the Ministry of Health and Families, the Ministry of Finance, Industry and Energy will carry out a restructuring of the budget, since to date the central government has not sent additional resources nor has the autonomous community received a response on its proposal to make the deficit target and the spending rule more flexible.
Among the support measures for companies included in the decree-law, it is established that the Andalucian Government will not suspend payments to companies contracted by the Administration despite the fact that they cannot carry out their activities due to the partial closure of units administrative or instrumental entities of the autonomous Administration, provided that the company proves the permanence of the staff in the same working conditions and for the duration of the suspension.
In addition, in terms of financial support and to solve possible problems of access to liquidity, a grant of up to 36 million euros is granted to the mutual guarantee company Garántia to guarantee financial operations to SMEs and the self-employed for an amount of up to 500 million euros.
The Andalucian Government also guarantees to respond to the needs of companies, allocating €20 million to the Andalucia line, business financing from the Andalucian Public Fund for Business Financing and Economic Development. It is estimated that this measure will have a multiplier effect of five, so that it will enable the granting of loans by collaborating entities for a volume of up to 100 million euros aimed at small and medium-sized companies and the self-employed.
With these two financial support measures, it will be possible to mobilize up to 600 million euros in loans covered by guarantees, which will allow decisive action to be taken against the problems arising from the current health crisis.
The decree-law also includes actions in order to help families, SMEs and the self-employed in the area of autonomous tax powers. Thus, it proposes an extension of the term of presentation and payment of three additional months in the Tax on Inheritance and Donations and on Patrimonial Transmissions and Documented Legal Acts. The impact of this measure amounts to some 270 million, which are injected into the Andalucian economy due to the delay in the collection of taxes, which means a short-term and interest-free loan to the productive sectors.
And it increases by 9 million euros, making a total of 22 million, the line of aid managed by the IDEA Agency for Digital Transformation projects of SMEs with the aim of facilitating that small and medium-sized companies are provided with the technical means necessary to enable teleworking.
Among other measures, the decree-law contemplates anticipating the implementation of measures to boost non-face-to-face tax management that were planned for this year in order to reduce procedures in person and avoid taxpayer attendance at offices, as well as measures to guarantee the immediate hiring of whatever actions are necessary to face the current situation.
The Andalucian Government approves this package of measures to respond, within the scope of its powers, to the approaches expressed by business and self-employed organisations, which have focused their concerns on the need to adopt measures to avoid bankruptcy. and maintaining employment, which are aimed at guaranteeing access to liquidity through public guarantees, deferred payment of taxes and the ease of teleworking.
Social emergency situations
The decree-law also contemplates coordinated action measures for dealing with social emergency situations. In this sense, the Commission for the coordination of social emergency actions derived from the adoption of preventive measures by the Andalusian Government against COVID-19 is created within the Ministry of Equality, Social Policies and Conciliation. in the field of social services.
Situations of social emergency derived from the adoption of preventive measures by the Administration of the Andalucian Government against COVID-19 are considered the following: the suspension of the appeal for care to the dependency, by the competent Ministry in the area of Social Services, which causes the beneficiary to fall into a situation of helplessness. Likewise, the verifiable modifications of the environment in which the person benefiting from dependency benefit lives, for causes directly caused in Andalucia by the epidemic of COVID-19, provided that such modifications of the environment cause a situation of helplessness in the terms of the previous section.
The resources that can be destined to attend to people declared in a situation of social emergency and, therefore, the object of special protection will be: Public and private residential centres for the elderly and people with disabilities with the required administrative authorisation for operation. Directly managed Social Services of the Andalucian Government and voluntary entities.
