Corona Crisis Help meeting the needs: Small Hessian companies show enormous interest in direct loans from WIBank

Starting on Friday, April 3, 2020, small Hessian companies with a maximum of 50 full-time employees have been able to apply for the new Hessen direct loan “Hessen-Mikroliquidität”. Within just six days, more than 1,250 applications have already been submitted via the online portal of the Wirtschafts- und Infrastrukturbank Hessen WIBank, the regional promotional bank of Hesse. The first operations have already been approved.

"We are doing everything we can to provide the many small businesses in Hesse affected by the crisis with the support they need as quickly as possible in this difficult phase. In just ten days, the Hessian Ministry of Economics, the Hessian Ministry of Finance and we developed this aid program together, ”says Dr. Michael Reckhard, member of the WIBank executive board.

"The new direct loan is intended to provide small businesses and liberal professions in particular with the funds they need to survive a period of several months of slump in sales," said Hesse's Minister of Economics, Tarek Al-Wazir. “In addition to the federal and state subsidy program, we have made available EUR 30 million for the Hessen-Mikroliquiditätprogram. The state government can also rely on WIBank's enormous commitment with the approval that is now starting, ”adds Hesse's Minister of Finance Michael Boddenberg.

From the first day, the application for Hessen-Mikroliquidität could be made online and fully electronically via an Internet portal. The focus in the past week was on the conception and technical implementation of the new funding program, WIBank is now concentrating on ramping up the processing capacity of the applications, which are mostly received via regional cooperation partners (e.g. chambers).

With the additional loan in the amount of 3,000 to 35,000 EUR, small companies with a maximum of 50 employees (full-time positions) and single self-employed entrepreneurs can finance additional liquidity requirements that have arisen due to the current Corona crisis and that are essential for the continuation of business activities. The loan term is seven years with two repayment-free years. The repayment is made monthly from the beginning of the third to the end of the seventh year, the interest rate is 0.75 percent per year.

For more details, please consult: Hessen-Mikroliquidität