Ćorić: COVID loan applications being processed promptly

Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Tomislav Coric said on Wednesday after a cabinet meeting that today already 21 applications for COVID loans had been received and that the refreshed HAMAG-BICRO agency for SMEs was processing the applications promptly.

With regard to fast COVID loans, he underlined that credit loans until now covered about HRK 1.8 billion and that 2,600 loans had been approved out of 3,860 applications, while 1,200 were rejected for justified reasons. He recalled that a government decision in early August increased the tranche for these loans by HRK 1 billion and facilitated HRK 1.3 billion for COVID loans.

He underlined that in the meantime HAMAG-BICRO has strengthened its ranks and that the documents required for applications had been reduced from 12 to 10.

A credit line was opened today and every application received will be processed within two months of being submitted, said Coric.

Asked how entrepreneurs will wait all that time because they need to pay fixed costs, Coric said that it isn't possible to approve 4,000 applications in ten days' time.

He underlined that by 10 am today 21 applications had been received and they were processed immediately. He added that some applicants may have to wait a little longer but reiterated that the objective is to resolve them all within two months.

It is assumed that entrepreneurs "have some reserves to settle costs and bridge their cash flow problems," he said, adding that many entrepreneurs were better prepared for this crisis than they were ten years ago.

Reporters asked how many entrepreneurs will be in a position to use these loans considering that there were quite a few who had tax debts, Coric said that the criteria specified that loans are issued to those enterprises that were doing well prior to the COVID crisis and that they had to prove that for last year, not for the past few months.

Extremely bad weather cause of INA offshore platform disappearance

Asked to comment on the disappearance of INA's Ivana D gas platform in the northern Adriatic, Coric said that the accident occurred due to extremely bad weather conditions.

According to him, there was no danger to the environment because the platform has safety valves which were immediately activated.

He does not believe that there is any need to enhance inspections on platforms and is certain that INA will do everything to find who and if anyone is responsible for what happened.

Text: Hina

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