The Luxembourg government has decided to strengthen support for companies affected by the financial consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.

On Tuesday, the government approved amendments which are aimed particularly at extending the scope of the bill on the establishment of an aid scheme for large companies and the liberal professions, presented last week by the Minister for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and Minister of Tourism, Lex Delles, and the Minister of Economy, Franz Fayot.

In addition, the maximum amount of aid, which takes the form of a repayable advance in favour of companies in temporary financial difficulty, has been raised from €200,000 to €500,000 maximum per individual company (group).

The method of calculating eligible costs has also been revised in the interest of administrative simplification. The amended text retains the personnel costs and rent charges of the company as eligible costs, including rent up to €10,000 per month per individual company.

Companies will begin repaying the loan at the earliest twelve months after the first payment of the advance.

This bill supplements existing aid measures which also apply in such cases, such as short-time working.