DM Monitoring
TALLINN: The Estonian government decided to continue in the coming year to implement the crisis aid measures during the initial spring wave of the coronavirus to support the economy in difficult times.
The decision made at a cabinet meeting involves the emergency crisis measures to increase the limit of the credit loss indemnity from 30 percent to 50 percent in guaranteeing new loans granted by banks, Estonian Rural Development Foundation’s loan guarantees, working capital and investment loans, and support measures for the financial lease of agricultural land, as well as support measures to the Estonian tourism sector, said the government press release.
“We support an economy that has been hammered by the crisis. The least we can do is ensure that critical resources for rapid economic recovery are available after the crisis,” Estonian Prime Minister Juri Ratas, who is still in self-isolation with a negative COVID-19 test after a recent contact with a virus carrier, was quoted as saying.
In spring, the business loan budget was divided in a way that 500 million euros were allocated to working capital loans and 50 million euros to investment loans, and more flexibility is needed as the crisis has deepened, according to Estonian Minister of Foreign Trade and Information Technology Raul Siem.
As of the beginning of December, loan decisions in the amount of 79 million euros, guarantee decisions in the amount of 29 million euros, and financial lease decisions in the amount of 2.6 million euros have been made by the Estonian Rural Development Foundation, said the press release.
In November, the government approved in principle the enabling of the use of 5 million euros allocated from its reserve to support the tourism sector next year, which will be accompanied by the balance of the crisis support for lease payments of trade and service companies of Enterprise Estonia in the amount of 3 million euros, it added.
Coronavirus has claimed the lives of 137 people in Estonia with 15,510 confirmed cases in total and the number of cases for every 100,000 people in the last 14 days is 402.79, statistics from the Estonian Health Board showed on Tuesday.
Starting from last Friday, Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid has been in self-isolation for the second time with another negative COVID-19 test.
