Reality lagging behind government promises of support

Companies in the Czech Republic were promised over 1 trillion koruna from the government, which made a big show of support during the coronavirus pandemic. In reality, writes Hospodářské noviny, only a fraction of the pledged money is being distributed. "I wanted a loan of CZK 15m," said Viliam Sivka, the owner of five Prague hotels. "In the bank, however, they told me they wouldn't give me that much, that they'd give me just CZK 5m. And that I'd have to cover it with a personal note covered by my property and my wife's property," he told HN. The daily also spoke with the organizer of a project called Hlidac statu that's monitoring how much state money is actually making it into the economy. "Finance Minister Alena Schillerova promised total support of CZK 1.19 trillion. However, up until now, the government has in fact paid out just CZK 81bn," said the group's Michal Blaha. Funds provided through the Covid 1 and Covid II were exhausted within minutes. Covid III is supposed to provide guarantees for loans from private banks for up to CZK 450bn, but the program has had almost no effect so far. While it was introduced a month ago, so far just CZK 13.4bn has been formally applied for and a mere CZK 183m has been disbursed.