Spanish govt to allocate additional $ 56 billion to support economy amid pandemic

Madrid [Spain], July 3 (Sputnik/ANI): The Spanish government approved on Friday a new financial support package worth 50 billion euros ($56 billion) to businesses affected by COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.
"The goal of the new package of measures is to strengthen and accelerate the recovery that has already begun in the economy after the crisis caused by COVID-19. To this end, measures will be taken aimed at attracting investment and strengthening the solvency of companies, which, in turn, will support thousands of jobs," the government said in a statement.
Among the approved measures is the creation of another state credit line worth 40 billion euros. Priority will be given to companies whose activities are based on two principles -- environmental sustainability and digitization. The government previously launched a line of credit worth 100 billion euros in order to cover liquidity needs.
A further 10 billion euros will be allocated for the new solvency support fund. The goal is to provide temporary relief to companies affected by the crisis to ensure their solvency.
The Spanish government has also approved a package of measures aimed at supporting the tourism sector, including a mortgage moratorium for properties subject to tourist activity, through the granting of a moratorium period of up to 12 months for mortgage-based financial operations signed with credit institutions. As much as 216 million euros have been allocated for the digitization and innovation of the tourism sector.
Spain's tourism sector previously accounted for 12.5 per cent of the country's GDP and provided almost 13 percent of all jobs. At present, foreign tourists cannot visit Spain, and the Spanish Statistical Office announced in early June that the country had received no foreign tourists, or any income from tourism, in April amid the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has vowed to reopen the country to foreign tourists by July. The European Union previously announced a financial aid package worth 8 billion euros ($8.9 billion) to help small- and medium-sized businesses across the bloc, including many in the tourism sector, that have been impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak. (Sputnik/ANI)