Background information

COVID Plus guarantee provides guarantees for loans to export-oriented large companies with more than 250 employees.The programme is sponsored by the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic (Ministerstvo financí České republiky, MF ČR together with the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic (Ministerstvo průmyslu a obchodu České republiky, MPO ČR and managed by Exportní garanční a pojišťovací společnost, a.s. (Export Guarantee and Insurance Company, EGAP).

The programme helps maintain the liquidity to export companies and is not intended for companies which were in existential difficulties before the state of emergency was declared (12 March 2020). Total amount of the programme is CZK 4,000,000,000 (€149,588,631). Companies negotiate the loans directly with a commercial bank.

Content of measure

The programme is eligible for companies, which:

• have more than 250 emplyoees,
• had in 2019 the proportion of total sales of exported goods and services at least 20% (this includes production deliveries to other exporters),
• the main business activity is not in services in transport, accommodation, tourism or gambling industry.

The maximum amount of the loan is 25% of total annual sales of products and services in 2019, but not less than CZK 5,000,000 (€186,986 approx.) and not more than CZK 2,000,000,000 (€ 74,794,315 approx.). EGAP will cover the principal of the loan up to 80%.

The guarantee can also provided for loans used for operations, working capital, refinancing or restructuring of a current loan or investment. Guarantee period is:

• three years for working capital loans
• up to five years for investment loans.

Use of measure

As of 15 December 2020, 49 applications were approved with the total amount of CZK 6,866,159,229 (€254,302,193 approx.). Most of the applications approved are from companies in manufacturing industry.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Larger corporations Other businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Company / Companies	Companies National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Consulted	Consulted
Form	Consultation through tripartite or bipartite social dialogue bodies	Consultation through tripartite or bipartite social dialogue bodies

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: Peak or cross-sectoral level

Involvement

Social partners, which are members of the tripartite body (Council of economic and social agreement, Rada hospodářské a sociální dohody, RHSD) were informed and consulted in both formal (requested by institutional settings) and informal ways. They are not involved in the management of policy measures.

Views and reactions

Social partners are supportive to the help to exporters, however, don't consider it as sufficient.

Sectors and occupations

This case is not occupation-specific.

Sources

• 05 May 2020: MPO ČR: Commercial banks can apply for COVID Plus guarantee/MPO ČR: Banky mohou žádat EGAP o záruky pro velké firmy (www.mpo.cz)
• 25 September 2020: CNB: Statistics of deffered loans/ČNB: Statistika odkladů splátek (www.cnb.cz)
• 15 December 2020: CNB: Statistics on COVID Programmes/ČNB: Statistika o programech COVID (www.cnb.cz)