Advertisement

France to provide extra €20 billion to companies hit by lockdown

AFP
AFP - [email protected]
France to provide extra €20 billion to companies hit by lockdown
French finance minister Bruno Le Maire. Photo: AFP

The French government could provide up to €20 billion in fresh capital to help companies hardest hit by the coronavirus outbreak, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Friday.

Advertisement

"We have decided to put €20 billion into a special (state) fund in order to be able to support all those companies which might need it," Le Maire said on Europe 1 radio.

The funds will be included in a new budget plan due to be submitted to ministers next week.

READ ALSO Will Macron be able to reawaken the sleeping French economy once lockdown ends?

France, like all its peers, is struggling to limit the damage to its economy caused by a strict coronavirus lockdown which is likely to be extended by at least two weeks to the end of April.

"As regards Air France, we are ready, when the time comes... to intervene," Le Maire said.

Separately, the head of automaker Renault, Jean-Dominique Senard, said his company would hope to get state guaranteed bank loans worth four to five billion euros to help it through the crisis.

Advertisement

"We are working on ideas for bank loans which will be guaranteed by the state and which, one day or another, would be repaid, that is we would not weigh on the state's finances," Senard told RTL radio.

"I am absolutely certain that that should allow us to get through this difficult period," he added.

Asked about the amount, Senard said any loans were likely to be around that size but stressed it was too early to talk numbers.

Senard also ruled out any prospect of renationalising Renault, in which the French government holds a 15 percent stake.

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

Anonymous 2020/04/10 12:42
When one reads what France is doing for it's people in such difficult times and what the UK is doing. It makes one proud to be French.

See Also