The European Commission approved the Croatian state aid program in the amount of EUR 202 million

The European Commission has approved Croatia EUR 202 million state aid program to support companies in the tourism and sports sectors directly affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The program is intended to support companies engaged in renting accommodation, preparing and serving food and beverages. Support will be provided in the form of guarantees for new working capital loans and investments and interest rate subsidies for new loans.

This support is in the form of subsidized interest rates for new loans will not exceed EUR 800,000 per entrepreneur. It shall take the form of guarantees for new working capital loans and investment loans with a maturity of up to six years. Guarantee coverage is limited to 90 percent of the loan principal or 35 percent in the case of guarantees to cover losses in the debt portfolio. Support will be granted until June 30, 2021, and only to companies that operated without difficulties until December 31, 2019, with the exception of micro and small enterprises that are eligible even if they were already in difficulty on that date.