Finland joins the list of countries that launch ambitious budget packages to reduce the impact of the coronavirus (koronavirus, in Finnish) epidemic on the economy, business and employment.
The Government has agreed on a comprehensive package to safeguard jobs and livelihoods and ease the economic pressure on businesses, reported on Friday the Government Communications Department. According to the Government’s estimate, the overall scale of the measures will be approximately 15 billion euros.
The first supplementary budget will safeguard the resources of the authorities and increase the appropriations allocated to companies. The scope of the supplementary budget will be around 400 million euros. Further supplementary budgets will be introduced over the coming weeks.
The Government will implement most of the proposals put forward on Thursday by collective organisations in the manner proposed by the organisations.
Lay offs
The measures outlined in the organisations’ proposals aim to secure, in particular, the livelihoods of people who are laid off or lose their jobs. "They will also make it easier for companies to adapt to the difficult situation," the Government says in a press release.
In addition to the measures proposed by the collective organisations, the Government aims to safeguard the livelihoods of entrepreneurs and freelancers, regardless of their form of enterprise, through unemployment security.
Companies’ financing will be secured through a number of billion-euro measures. New direct payments will also be introduced. The purpose of these measures is to ensure the liquidity of companies during the crisis and to prevent bankruptcies. The measures will be in place in all sectors, the Government emphasized.
