The COVID-19 pandemic has translated into a very negative shock to Portuguese companies. In response, the Government implemented a set of support measures to mitigate its impact on economic activity. The Fast and Exceptional Enterprise Survey (INE and Banco de Portugal) allows for the evaluation of the recourse to the following measures by responding firms: (i) the moratorium on the payment of interest and principal on existing loans, (ii) the access to new loans with subsidized interest or State guarantees and (iii) the suspension of the payment of tax and contribution obligations.  

According to the results for the second half of May, 32% of companies have already benefited from at least one of these three measures and 26% are planning to benefit from at least one of the measures. A significant proportion of these companies reported reductions in turnover greater than 50% compared to a situation without the pandemic. In contrast, 39% of the companies do not plan to benefit from any of the three measures presented by the government. For this group of companies, the impact of the pandemic on turnover appears to have been less significant.

These measures represent, together with the possibility of implementing layoffs, a crucial support to the liquidity of the companies, contributing to safeguard existing productive capacity and supporting the resumption of economic activity after the containment measures are eased.

For more details see the Fast and Exceptional Enterprise Survey – COVID-19, Second fortnight of May 2020, available (only in Portuguese) on the websites of Banco de Portugal and Statistics Portugal.

Prepared by Ana Sequeira, Cristina Manteu and Nuno Monteiro. The analysis, opinions and results expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily coincide with those of Banco de Portugal or the Eurosystem.