Background information

At its session on 31 March 2020, the government adopted a bill and the parliament approved it on 2 April 2020 as Act no. 67/2020 Coll. on certain emergency financial measures in relation to the spread of the dangerous contagious human disease COVID-19. On this legal basis, the Slovak Guarantee and Development Bank (SZRB) provides an Operating Loan called ENTREPRENEUR 2020 to support the maintenance of operations and employment in small or medium-sized enterprises, with the possibility of obtaining financial assistance from the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic. An operating loan takes the form of a "loan guarantee" and a "loan interest payment".

Content of measure

The purpose of the measure is to finance operating costs related to the maintenance of business operations and employment, to finance investments in tangible and / or intangible assets, repayment of liabilities to the Social Insurance Agency and / or health insurance companies. The amount of the loan may be a maximum of 50% of the client's total turnover in 2019, with a minimum amount of €10,000 and a maximum amount of €350,000. The maximum maturity of the loan is 3 years from the date of the first drawdown; repayment of principal and interest may be deferred for a period of 12 months from the date of the first drawdown of the loan. The loan guarantee is provided by the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic after meeting the conditions defined in the loan agreement concluded with the client.

Use of measure

The originally set limit of the program for the Entrepreneur 2020 loan was €20 million. Due to great interest in this product, SZRB doubled this amount (€40 million) in agreement with its shareholder (Ministry of Finance), but decided not to continue with any further increases. The reason is that there are currently other effective state aid schemes for small and medium-sized enterprises, namely the program of the Slovak Investment Holding called SIH Anti-Corona Guarantee 1 and Anti-Corona Guarantee 2 and the EXIMBANKA SR COVID loan program.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Solo-self-employed SMEs One person or microenterprises	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Company / Companies	National funds

Social partners

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

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Informed	Consulted
Form	Not applicable	Direct consultation outside a formal body

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

• Only employers' organisations
• Main level of involvement: Peak or cross-sectoral level

Involvement

Only ad-hoc informal consultations between employers orgaisations and government.

Views and reactions

The loan security measure was used by the companies to a greater extent than originally intended. Subsequently, other measures have been taken to secure larger loans, so this scheme is not continued.

Sources

• 17 June 2020: Act 67/2020 Col. on certain emergency financial measures in relation to the spread of the dangerous contagious human disease COVID-1 (www.slov-lex.sk)
• 24 June 2020: Slovenská záručná a rozvojová banka (2020): Úvery (Loans (www.szrb.sk)