PANDEMIC AID: Seventy-one percent of non-government relief were approved by state-run banks, for an average of NT$13 million per application, FSC data showed

Taipei Times
Date: May 04, 2020
By: Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporter

Local banks had approved 8,254 loan applications totaling NT$124 billion (US$4.16 billion) for businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic as of Wednesday last week, a surge of 63 percent and 51.9 percent respectively from a week earlier, according to figures released by the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC).

Seventy-two percent of the loans, or NT$89.9 billion, were provided to 7,778 companies under a Ministry of Economic Affairs assistance program for the nation’s manufacturers and small and medium-sized enterprises, commission data showed.

The ministry last month announced that it would subsidize interest payments for companies whose revenue dropped by at least 15 percent from last year’s average, on condition that the companies do not reduce their employees’ working hours or salaries.

Another 27.5 percent of the loans, or NT$34.1 billion, were offered to 473 tourism agencies, airlines, hotels and transportation firms. The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is to help subsidize those firms with interest payments and handling fees.    [FULL  STORY]