L-R: Etienne Schneider, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Economy; Francine Closener, Secretary of State for the Economy; Credit: MECO

The recently revealed economic results of the 2013-18 legislature have shown that a total of €440 million was paid in the form of aid to companies during 2014-18 for private investments in Luxembourg.

Luxembourg Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Economy, Étienne Schneider, and the Secretary of State for the Economy, Francine Closener, today presented a political assessment of economic actions since December 2013 when, following the early elections, the Ministry of Economy and Foreign Trade merged with the Ministry for Middle Classes and Tourism to form the Ministry of Economy.

Regarding the economic balance of the 2013-18 legislature, Deputy Prime Minister Étienne Schneider commented: "We have laid the foundations for long-term economic prosperity. During the last 5 years, we have continued to diversify the structure of the economy and have further strengthened the business environment conducive to business development. The country and the companies are well prepared to meet the challenges of tomorrow related especially to the digitisation of the economy".

Minister Schneider particularly highlighted the important implementation of the SpaceResources.lu initiative as a major project of national space policy. Other flagship measures of the Ministry of the Economy during the 2013-18 legislature included the European strategic interest project HPC (High Performance Computing) which aims to create a centre for HPC and Big Data competences in Luxembourg, as well as the efforts made as part of the "Rifkin" process preparing the country for the third industrial revolution and a reorientation of the economy. Moreover, since 2017, a new economic promotion strategy has adopted a sectorial approach, targeting mainly foreign companies and investors who bring real added value to the national economy while consolidating the country's qualitative and sustainable development.

For her part, Secretary of State for the Economy Francine Closener reviewed the actions taken in recent years to promote the development of the SME sector, emphasising the important role Luxembourg has played in start-ups and business opportunities related to digitisation. In this context, she cited the official launch of "LetzShop.lu" as a highlight.

Moreover, during the current legislature, all the aid schemes of the Ministry of the Economy have been renewed and their available budget envelopes have been revised upwards to stimulate more entrepreneurship, business creation and better support the economy with private investment, innovation and research. For example, until 2022, a budget of €89 million is planned to support the development of SMEs, which represents an increase of 27% over the previous 5 years. Meanwhile, the five-year plan for tourism foresees €60 million to support this sector from 2018 to 2022, drawing inspiration from the "Tourism 2022" strategy. 

For all the various aid schemes, the Ministry of the Economy paid the aforementioned sum of €440 million in the form of aid to companies for the 2014-18 period, for private investments made in Luxembourg up to the amount of €1.5 billion.