Regional President Ximo Puig has announced an aid scheme for the sectors most affected by the pandemic. The Generalitat will promote, together with councils and municipalities, a fund of 120 million with the aim of saving 33,000 companies and business owners across the Valencian Community from closure.
The Generalitat will contribute 50 percent of the resources, the councils 30 percent and the town halls 20 percent. It is intended to give a boost to the groups of the hostelry industry, restaurants, nightlife, recreational activities, cultural activities, those associated with traditional festivals and travel agencies. These are the sectors hardest hit by the pandemic and restrictions and have been selected based on a technical report carried out by the Valencian Institute of Economic Research (Ivie).
The initiative, which will come to light more over the next few days with the approval of a decree, has the objective of ensuring that those viable and autonomous companies with businesses that are now under minimum turnover are not forced to close and resist these hard months to return to being profitable once the epidemiological situation has been resolved.
During his speech, the president stressed that the agreement has been reached during a meeting of the institutional table with the support of all parties, including the Alicante Provincial Council led by the PP’s Carlos Mazón, who took the opportunity to also demand cuts in tax.
“We have addressed the best possible help for the affected sectors, in this transition to the second semester in which we expect economic recovery after the advance of a vaccination,” said President Puig.
The head of the Consell also referred to the meetings that he has been holding in recent times with representatives of entities from the social and business sphere of the Valencian Community, and was convinced that “an agreement will be reached to facilitate the firms that is as viable as possible for the maintenance of their future activity ”.
The Business Confederation of the Valencian Community (CEV) thanked those involved for the creation of the fund. In the absence of knowing how it will be exactly specified, the Valencian employer’s association assured in a statement that it trusts that this project will contribute to alleviating the difficult situation that companies and self-employed hoteliers, hostellers, leisure, or travel agencies are going through. It also considered that a plan independent from the one announced is necessary for the hotel sector.