WILLEMSTAD - Mariëlla Olaria-Maduro of the Business sector and Zulaika Mook of the Economic Development & Innovation sector of the Ministry of Economic Development indicated recently that since April 2020, the government has so far spent nearly 26 million guilders on financial support for individual business owners.
The 'Mi negoshi' project, which provides coaching and support to struggling business owners, has invested approximately 400,000 guilders so far and the NOW scheme - which provides financial support to companies that have lost more than 25 percent of their revenue for job preservation - more than 28 million guilders has been spent so far.
These various forms of financial support created during the corona crisis remain for the time being. The application portal for March has now been opened.
Olaria-Maduro indicated that applications submitted by individual business owners have stabilized and 1,500 applications were received in February. This still involves business owners in the transport sector, musicians and sellers at stalls and booths.
The arrangements for a bridging loan that run through Korpodeko and Qredits are also still ongoing. To date, Olaria-Maduro announced, 454 requests have been received, 74 of which have been approved. Olaria-Maduro explained that in many cases there is a lack of proper administration that prevents the company from getting the loan it has requested.
The support offered to business owners in the Mi negoshi project has so far required an investment of 400,000 guilders. This includes coaching and support for business owners to keep their businesses running in these difficult times. So far 384 entrepreneurs have received guidance and 310 processes have been completed.
Mook explained the NOW scheme and stated that the goal was always to retain employees, but that this form of financial support does have certain conditions attached. “Conditions that companies must adhere to every month that a call is made to the NOW scheme. Since July 2020, the company must have incurred a 25 percent loss to be eligible for the arrangement.”
The sector list has remained the same since then: there are 23 sectors that can qualify for the wage subsidy. The subsidy is 60 percent; employees are required to hand in 20 percent themselves and the remaining 20 percent is for the employer's account.
From April to December 2020, the government granted 23.08 million guilders in wage subsidies. An amount of 2.9 million guilders has so far been calculated for January 2021; 419 applications were received, of which 275 were approved. In February, 378 requests were received, of which 245 were approved and 2.6 million guilders were paid.
Regarding the Fixed Cost Allowance (TVL), 396 requests have been received so far, of which 378 have been approved. Of these, 307 have been paid, 61 requests are being processed and 10 requests have been rejected.
