FM begins consultations on economic package

S. Korea readies $39 bn to help small biz, boost economy Germany mulls half-trillion euro support fund

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to the nation Thursday night on the economic fallout of the spreading coronavirus infection, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman acted swiftly on Friday and met ministers and officials to explore support measures for affected sectors like micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME), tourism, aviation and animal husbandry.

Officials said the government debated the need to take immediate steps to help sectors like MSME, diary and livestock on a priority. For the MSME, officials said, “The government is mulling allowing late repayments of loans and other liabilities.”

The MSME ministry is concerned about the nonpayment of nearly Rs 6 lakh crore dues to the sector by the government and large private firms. The ministry sought various measures to help the sector tide over the crisis.

Seoul, March 20: South Korean President Moon pledged 50 trillion won ($39 billion) in emergency financing for small businesses and other stimulus measures to prop up the country's coronavirus-hit economy. The package is the latest in a string of steps Seoul has taken in recent days to curb pressure on Asia's fourth-largest economy, including an interest rate cut, an extra 11.7 trillion won budget and more US dollar supplies.

The government is to issue loan guarantees for struggling small businesses with less than 100 million won in revenue to ensure companies can easily and cheaply access credit, Moon said on Thursday.

Local commercial banks and savings banks would also allow loans to roll over for small businesses if they cannot afford to pay off the loan when it is due, he said."We've decided to take the measures to prevent small and medium-sized firms, and merchants and the self-employed, from going bankrupt and ease anxiety in the financial sector," Moon told an emergency economic policy meeting.

"As the situation unfolds, we will scale them up necessary," he said.

Later, addressing the press, Sitharaman said an economic package for the coronavirus-hit sectors will be announced "as soon as possible", but she did not give any timeline for doing so.

"I had a meeting with if

tourism, MSME, civil aviation, animal husbandry sectors. These ministries presented assessment of their sector,” she said.

The ministry will hold an internal meeting on Saturday to firm up the action plan to deal with

Frankfurt, March 20: Germany is considering a half-trillion-euro fund to support companies thrown into payments difficulties by the coronavirus crisis. The fund will be able to guarantee liabilities or even inject capital when needed, Der Spiegel reported on Friday. The plan is one of several being considered.Ministers have already promised liquidity support to businesses and introduced measures making it easier to reduce working hours rather than lay off workers. the crisis, she added.

About the package in the making, she said "it will be difficult to give timeline but it will be done as soon as possible."

She said the task force announced by Mr Modi is yet to be constituted.