The Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment, Leo Varadkar, yesterday launched the Governments Covid-19 Restart Plus grant scheme for small businesses.
In the July Stimulus plan, the Restart grant scheme was expanded by €300m to €550m, with payment levels increased from €10k to €25k.
However, a key plank of the government’s business support package is the €2bn credit guarantee scheme, due to come online later this month, with a number of the banks reporting H1 numbers last week noting in the presentations that loans will be offered at discounts to current SME loan rates given the 80% guarantee (which will drive lower risk weights).
However, Goodbody Stockbrokers have noted comments from the Minister yesterday that the government is open to doing more, but that is a matter for the budget in October.
Goodbody have been advocating for some time now that the take-up in the UK credit guarantee schemes mapped onto Ireland potentially shows that the current €2bn Irish guarantee scheme may need to be upscaled materially to support businesses.
According to Goodbody Stockbrokers, "It appears the reference to the October Budget holds the prospects of possible additional support, though we would have a preference for sooner rather than later."
Source: www.businessworld.ie