Coronavirus: £30m. rescue package and aid for Aurigny
A £30m. rescue package has been announced for Guernsey businesses and individuals with the promise that the States will do everything they can to protect jobs and wages under threat from the coronavirus.
The States-owned airline Aurigny will also have its overdraft increased by £27m. to a maximum of £52.7m.
The third initiative to shore up the economy will be a loan guarantee system which will be underwritten by the States to the tune of up to £40m. Local politicians gave their unanimous support to the trio of measures.
Deputy Lyndon Trott, the vice president of Policy & Resources, gave an assurance that help would be fast and the loan guarantee system should be up and running by the end of next week [27 March] .
‘Our aim is that if a business applies for funding at 9am on Monday, maybe not next Monday but certainly the Monday after, if support is agreed the money could be in its account by the close of business on the Wednesday, so we really are talking about a very swift turnaround.’
The main focus of the aid, at this stage, is on small businesses, sole traders and the self-employed, who are likely to be ‘hit hardest and hit earliest’.
Included in the £30m budget will be the possibility of delaying social insurance contributions, deferring commercial TRP, and £5m. for individuals who are not currently entitled to States’ benefits but are facing significant hardship.
Deputy Trott asked his colleagues in the States to give their ‘decisive’ support to the businesses whose long-term survival was under threat.
‘This is our opportunity as the government to tell our community that we are going to help them, this is how we get assistance to the employers who need it, to our shops, to our hotels, our construction firms, our restaurants, our events businesses, our tourism businesses, our manufacturers, our small gardening firms and our commercial fishermen and so on.’
The emergency policy letter won strong support from the Assembly on Friday, although some members expressed disappointment at a lack of ‘consultation and collaboration’ and that they were hearing important updates at the same time as the public and the media.
Those views irritated Deputy Mary Lowe, who did not want to see more talking shops, and called on members to support Policy & Resources.
‘How many groups do we want? I’d rather work was actually carried out rather than going from clipboard to clipboard meetings and taking lots of time in the various groups. This crisis is fast moving.’
Guernsey was said to be in a strong position to offer the substantial aid because of past ‘prudence’.
The general revenue account will be completely depleted by the moves, but in the rainy day savings account there is a balance of around £195m.
Deputy Trott used the language of his late grandmother to explain ‘it is bloney pelting it down’.
