The Minister of the Economy presented this Tuesday morning the support system for companies in coming out of the crisis. Among the new measures announced, a new fund for intermediary companies that need to invest.
The recovery is there. This is the message hammered home by the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire, this Tuesday during a press conference. Despite the disappointing GDP figures in the first quarter, the tenant of Bercy wants to be confident and has decided to maintain the government’s growth forecasts at 5% for the year 2021. “We will find, in the first quarter of 2022, our level of pre-crisis activity “assured Bruno Le Maire.
To achieve this, we must therefore take care of the way out of the crisis by doing “tailor-made” insists the minister. He recalls the difficulties of certain sectors in finding labor, such as in the restaurant business where activity has picked up, but also the situation of other companies which, for their part, are clearly struggling to restart. “These companies need our support” indicates the minister, recalling the recent budgetary announcements intended to ensure the presidential “whatever the cost”, while recalling that they also had to mark the exit.
Detect, guide, support
Finally, the State wants to help companies which now need equity capital to meet strong activity. It is in particular the interest of participatory loans that insurers have already pledged to the tune of 11 billion euros. “I am announcing to you that insurers will raise funds for the second time in the month of June” to guarantee the 20 billion euros promised for these participatory loans, underlines Bruno Le Maire.
But the press conference was above all about companies “fragile” but still “economically viable.” Clearly, companies (5 to 8% of companies, according to the Banque de France) whose debt has increased and whose cash flow has decreased in recent months.
To help them, Bercy wants to detect, guide and support them. “For the first time, all the most sensitive data available to the general management of enterprises, the general direction of public finances, the Urssaf, the Banque de France, will be collected together, merged and crossed to allow us to identify as soon as possible the situation of companies in difficulty “explains Bruno Le Maire. The company will then be contacted confidentially to find a solution.
A unique number
Then companies will have to approach a one-stop shop, via a national telephone number (0806 000 245). And as an interlocutor, the State will designate in each department a departmental advisor on exiting the crisis intended to welcome and advise companies in a situation of financial fragility. The company’s financial partners, from accountants to commercial court clerks, will also strengthen their commitment to prevention and advice with fragile companies.
Finally, it will be a question of proposing the best solution. This involves extending the availability of State Guaranteed Loans (PGEs), exceptional loans for small businesses put in place since the start of the crisis and extended into 2021, or debt clearance plans. The novelty is also the establishment of a transition fund of 3 billion euros for companies of significant size that need equity capital. Finally, restructuring procedures must be initiated as soon as possible to avoid bankruptcy. And thus hope to avoid this dreaded wave of failures …
