The Czech government is ramping up a CZK 1 trillion program to support companies impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in an effort to avoid mass layoffs. CZK 100bn in direct support has been proposed as the amount that would go towards covering wages and putting off the payment of social services contributions. The remaining CZK 900bn would come in the form of loan guarantees to prevent banks from calling in their loans at a time when companies have no chance of returning the principal. The government is copying a model established by the Danish government, which is covering 75 percent of the wages of companies who don’t fire anyone for the next three months. The president of the Chamber of Commerce Vladimir Dlouhý said that if the program isn’t enacted quickly, it will be too late to help a number of companies. He also criticized some of the conditions of a special COVID loan of up to CZK 15m because companies that are behind on salary payments or owe the state for taxes or social payments don’t qualify. “Logically, companies apply for the loan because they don’t have any income and they don’t have the money for payroll,” he said.
