More than 5.6 billion of the 14.373 million euros that the government has deployed so far in measures to combat the consequences of DANA, or 39% of the total, are articulated through credits or tax deferrals or credit moratoriums in coordination with the financial sector. These mechanisms are far from being non-refundable transfers, and require a commitment to future payment from the people concerned who benefit from one of the two protocols.
The bulk of the amount – a maximum of 5 billion euros – corresponds to the guarantee line managed by the ICO for an amount of 80% of the financing grantedaimed at repairing the homes and businesses of companies, self-employed workers and households in the 32 municipalities affected by the disaster triggered on October 29. The financing goes through two channels: one exclusively intended for families and communities of owners, and the other aimed at anticipating compensation and supporting the recovery of the economic fabric. Financial entities began adhering to the lines yesterday.
Concretely, the ICO plans – for the first time – loans to households, the maximum amount of which will be the sum of the compensation requested from the Insurance Compensation Consortium, and the expected amount of the aid requested. The duration of the operations will be five years and no commission can be applied by the banks. The Executive’s objective is for the cost of financing to be “as tight as possible”. This line of guarantees is extendable to self-employed people and companies with their head office in one of the municipalities concerned by DANA.
On the other hand, the loans are directly aimed carriers or other professionals which, not having a head office in the affected area, suffered damage during the development of their activity in one of these sites. The maximum amount of financing in this case is 12.5 million euros per company and the repayment terms will be 5 years for working capital and 7 years for investment, reaching 10 years in the case of companies in the agricultural sector. Operations will have a 12-month waiting period, with the aim of easing the financial burden during the first year. This period can be extended by an additional 12 months if the investment project requires it. According to government calculations, some 32,000 businesses, 150,000 households and 535,000 people could benefit from this measure. “The guarantee will be processed by financial entities through the public-private collaboration program, successfully deployed during the pandemic, to reach the last corners of the affected areas,” said ICO President Manuel Illueca, of La Moncloa. THURSDAY. Added to this is an additional line of ICO MAPA SAECA credits of 60 million euros for farmers and breeders who have seen their farms damaged or ruined by the floods.
In addition, Moncloa is extending a catalog of tax benefits, including two in the form of deferrals until 2025 – without interest – of payments planned on the date of the disaster. The Treasury has suspended – since November 5 – the recovery of second payment of the declaration of the 200,000 taxpayers concerned by DANA which chose to pay its obligations in two installments. “If payment is made, it will be returned immediately,” Treasury sources said. The order to suspend or return payments was sent to banks on November 6. The economic impact of this measure is estimated at 315 million euros. The tax umbrella also extends to self-employed workers or businesses, who already have a grace period, until January 30, to present one of the tax procedures or procedures due from October 28. The estimated value of the measure amounts to 300 million.
However, most of the tax shield raised by those of María Jesús Montero is in the form of exemptions or reductions. The collection of the waste tax and the rustic IBI for the year 2024 is canceled for farmers and breeders who have losses; and they reduce – by 25% – the modular taxation of self-employed workers and the contributions accumulated in the simplified VAT system. This guarantees savings of 400 and 92 euros for 22,600 taxpayers and 4,900 self-employed workers.
The moratorium also covers the credit obligations of those affected. The mortgage code of good practice – approved in 2022 after an agreement with the bank – is extended so that affected households can freeze their mortgage for an additional 12 months once the first 12 months provided for in the previous royal decree have passed. For example, an average home loan of 120,000 euros, with a monthly payment of 600 euros; He will pay no euros in the coming months, and 300 euros for nine additional months. In addition, once this period has passed, if there is a risk of vulnerability, the beneficiary will only pay 300 euros over the following 12 months. 25 million was also mobilized for the construction of housing on public property, and properties owned by Sareb began to be offered to rehouse all those who lost their homes.
Direct aid worth 1.9 billion
The rest of the plan develops a vast aid system of almost 1.9 billion, which extends universally and to all affected households, workers, businesses, industries and municipalities. The main ones house the entire affected population. Concretely, the Government has already started to transfer up to 72,000 euros for cases of disability, between 20,000 and 60,000 euros for home repairs, 10,300 euros to change or repair furniture damaged by DANA, or 37 000 euros per neighborhood community, and which will be directed to repair common areas such as doors or elevators. Last Monday, the Council of Ministers approved the advance of 50% of all aid, so that applicants do not have to wait for their files to be processed.
The support network also extends to companies and self-employed people, deploying between 10,000 and 150,000 euros per company depending on its volume of operations. “To receive them, it will be enough to indicate the account number and they will start being billed in less than 30 days,” Sánchez explained a few days ago. Some 75,000 self-employed people and 30,000 businesses – particularly SMEs – benefit from it. Furthermore, an aid plan of 200 million is added for farms which have suffered damage preventing them from undertaking the next campaign or which have suffered losses of more than 40%.
Labor shield and recovery plans
The plan also reserves a component for the protection of workers. Recovers the forced ERTE to which – until Friday – some 16,000 people and 1,178 companies have subscribed; assimilates temporary disability compensation to that of work accidents, thus removing the requirement of a certain number of previous years of contributions to be able to access it; deploys a new extraordinary benefit for the self-employed which will allow them to make their activity compatible for three months with the benefit of an extraordinary partial cessation benefit, or consider paid leave which the worker will not have to recover, but which falls on the shoulders of the company.
Finally, the section on projected investments to clean, repair and rebuild infrastructure and affected areas stands out. Moncloa will allocate 500 million euros to finance an action plan against the mud that is found in many streets and infrastructure in the affected areas, and a program to repair agricultural infrastructure such as roads, terraces and irrigation systems of 175 million euros which will be executed by TRAGSA. .
Other aid has been added, such as a sum of 45 million euros for the heritage restoration of the lagoon, and another 2 million in direct aid for cultural activities: cinemas, bookstores, etc.
