BERLIN (GERMANY) – German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said on Tuesday that the government’s coronavirus aid package to compensate firms hit by lockdown measures in November will have roughly 14 billion euros (12.56 billion pounds).
Going by these measures, companies in the country can get up to 200,000 euros a month to make for fixed costs such as rent, while solo entrepreneurs can get up to 5,000 euros.
Speaking to a summit hosted by newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Scholz said the government was willing to provide aid to firms affected by the lockdown measures. He also added that the estimated cost of 14 billion euros amounted to “a lot of money”.
Initially, the government had planned to provide 10 billion euros (8.9 billion pounds) but it decided to broaden the possibilities of the package so that more firms and the self-employed can get help.
Germany plans for a borrowing of more than 300 billion euros in total this year and next, but Scholz has given caution that the government needs to give a serious thought as to which relief measures make sense.
