Attica lands many cheap state loans
Large corporations in Attica and Thessaloniki as well as tourism units active on the Greek islands have received the highest amounts, on average, from the first five phases of the cheap state loans program, which has already disbursed 6.8 billion euros to companies.
So far the beneficiaries of the so-called “Deposit To Be Returned” program are 544,591 tax registration numbers, mostly concerning small and medium-sized enterprises active around the country. However, the biggest amounts were disbursed in the capital and Thessaloniki, with an average of €130,451 to each recipient registered at the Piraeus tax office, €125,773 each for those registered at the Athens tax office and €118,006 for each Thessaloniki beneficiary. The island-based companies that received the largest amounts hailed from Mykonos and Santorini.
Half of the €6.8 billion paid out to date – i.e. €3.4 billion – concerned the fourth and the fifth phase of the program.
The ongoing sixth phase has already attracted 290,000 applications, with Finance Ministry officials saying the same rules will apply again. Therefore the main criterion will be a turnover reduction of at least 20% in January compared to a year earlier.
