The government announced higher subsidies for companies that had to suspend their operations due to the crisis and the introduction of new, stricter measures to fight the coronavirus. The maximum amount of the subsidy for an employee will be increased to 600,000 ISK and financial support for each month of company downtime due to COVID-19 will be extended until spring.
Due to tighter measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic in recent weeks, many companies have had to close or suspend their operations. Fitness centers, bars, hairdressing salons and other businesses that required direct customer contact were ordered to close on Wednesday.
In a statement from the Ministry of Finance, it was stated that the draft amendment to the act on financial support for smaller companies in connection with government-approved restrictions aimed at combating the coronavirus, added the provision of continued subsidies for those companies that had to be closed or suspended their operations from September 18 .
The biggest change is said to be in the amount to close funding, which will no longer be subject to the same limits as in the first wave of the epidemic we faced this spring. On the other hand, the conditions for receiving a subsidy are in all material respects comparable to those that were awarded the first time.
In view of the uncertainty about the further development of the epidemic, the draft proposes that the grant extension authorization should not be limited to those companies that have already been forced to shut down temporarily this fall.
Therefore, the remedy should apply until the middle of next year. However, in the first quarter, the situation will be reviewed again in terms of the circumstances and evolution of the epidemic.
“The government was criticized for such actions in spring that the subsidies were applied to too few employees, so now we are making the necessary changes” – Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir said about the actions of the authorities during the talks with RÚV, after today’s government meeting.
Katrín also added that the subsidies will not cover restaurants that have not been closed due to stricter policies to fight COVID-19.
The stricter restrictions are to apply for two weeks. Katrín told mbl.is that on that basis, the cost of the “close” grant would be around ISK 300-400 million.
mmn / visir.is
Source: Yle