As Novac writes on the 3rd of July, 2020, the Croatian Agency for Small Business, Innovation and Investment (HAMAG-BICRO) has provided as much as 300 million kuna in loans for Croatian businesses in the cultural and creative industries, and 600 million kuna in the maritime sector as part of the second package of economic measures for entities affected by the coronavirus pandemic. This second sum also refers to transport, transport infrastructure and related activities.

New support funds were provided in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Finance for the creative and cultural industry, as well as the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure (MMPI) and HBOR for the field of maritime and land transport. The programmes were all adopted in accordance with the legal basis of the provision of state aid of the Republic of Croatia and according to the programme approved by the European Commission (EC).

The goal of the loan guarantee programme in the field of culture and creative industries is to provide additional liquidity while reducing the interest rate and the level of required collateral. The guarantees are intended for independent artists, micro, small and medium-sized businesses in the industry who duly settled their obligations by the 31st of December 2019. The terms include a maximum guarantee amount of up to 800,000 euros with a maximum duration of up to five years including a grace period of up to twelve months for a repayment period of at least two years and an interest rate of a mere 0.1 percent of the guarantee.

The state aid programme for the maritime, transport, transport infrastructure and related sectors will provide financial support to businesses in this sector in mitigating the effects of the economic crisis caused by the pandemic. This will create a stronger foundation for the smooth flow of traffic in the Republic of Croatia and abroad. The grantor is MMPI, the financial implementation will be managed by HBOR and HAMAG-BICRO, while the records and supervision of grants will be carried out by the competent ministry.

The funds are intended for all Croatian businesses in the sector which experienced a significant decline in their respective operating revenues and turnover during 2020 of at least 20 percent. The conditions are similar to those in the area of ​​creative industries and culture with a maximum amount of 800,000 euros and a premium of 0.2 percent, with a guarantee of 90 percent of the principal of an individual loan for a period of five years. HAMAG-BICRO will issue guarantees to small and medium-sized enterprises, while HBOR will be the entity to provide funds to large businesses/companies.

"HAMAG-BICRO was among the first to activate a package of measures for the liquidity of micro, small and medium-sized companies, which proved to be a timely response given the situation with the pandemic and the economic crisis. With these additional measures, we're creating conditions for our entrepreneurs in the cultural and creative industry who are suffering great losses, as well as those in the field of transport and maritime infrastructure, so that they can continue their business. These measures will certainly affect the tourism sector, enabling our cultural industry to continue developing Croatia's tourist offer until the end of the pandemic is declared,'' said Vjeran Vrbanec, President of the Management Board of HAMAG-BICRO.

In the past four years alone, HAMAG-BICRO has stimulated investments of as much as 12.5 billion kuna for more than 7,500 Croatian companies, which has created a precondition for the creation of 20,000 new jobs. Since the beginning of the economic crisis caused by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, HAMAG-BICRO has provided funds for more than 3,200 businesses worth a massive 570 million kuna in total.

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As Novac writes on the 21st of May, 2020, HAMAG-BICRO has stimulated the Croatian economy in the amount of 230 million kuna through measures introduced by the government, and within the aid package for micro, small and medium-sized businesses. As early as March the 6th, 2020, the aforementioned agency was one of the first to activate the implementation of six measures and in just two months, it provided liquidity for more than 500 businesses in the amount of more than 165 million kuna through loans.

HAMAG-BICRO's package of measures to help the economy, which adapted the existing four and introduced two new financial instruments, proved to be a timely response, which is reflected in the large number of received and processed applications. Comparing the numbers of received applications for HAMAG-BICRO loans, it can be seen that the agency received twice as many applications in just one month than for 2019 as a whole.

In addition to the large number of received liquidity requests from companies, over 2,000 businesses have requested a moratorium on the repayment of ESIF loans as well as loans for Agriculture and Rural Development. In this way, HAMAG-BICRO approved a moratorium in the amount of 62 million kuna of additional liquidity for Croatian businesses. Given the significant levels of interest from businesses, the total value of the measures to help the economy, which initially amounted to 1.148 billion kuna, increased to a massive 3 billion kuna.

The analysis of applications by counties shows that the largest number of received requests comes from the City of Zagreb, Split-Dalmatia and Primorje-Gorski Kotar counties. The most represented activities are the provision of accommodation, food preparation and serving and the processing industry, and in the new financial instrument known as the COVID-19 loan, the most heavily represented are those in the retail and wholesale trade.

Businesses still have access to existing HAMAG-BICRO programmes financed from ESI funds, which have been further adjusted by lowering interest rates to 0.1 percent and introducing a moratorium on debt repayment on all previously approved loans. In addition to the above, small business entities in the agricultural, processing and forestry sectors also have access to a Micro Loan for Rural Development for working capital in the amount of up to 25,000 kuna and an interest rate of 0.5 percent.

In addition to loans, ESIF Portfolio Guarantees, Individual Guarantees for Agriculture and Rural Development and the National Plus Programme are also available. In parallel with measures to help the economy, HAMAG-BICRO is working on the finalisation of the first programming period (2014-2020) for Croatia, within which five more tenders were opened: Integrator, Quality Labels, Product Certification to Market, and Innovation vouchers for SMEs.

All HAMAG-BICRO employees were mobilised and focused on the administrative and financial processing of all of these applications, but due to the fact that a large number of companies didn't submit complete documentation, the time for approving applications was slowed down. In the next ten days, the agency plans to administratively process all applications and intensively continue the process of approving loans in order to provide businesses with the fastest possible access to financing.

An overview of all open tenders, as well as measures to help businesses during the coronavirus epidemic is available on the official website of the agency.

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