As if the economic horizon for the fall was not already gloomy enough due to the energy crisis and rising inflation, the delayed effect of certain measures adopted during the pandemic now threatens companies, the self-employed and families.
We are referring to the expiration of the credits granted by the State instead of the direct aid that was then claimed.
The alternative designed by the Government, channeled through guarantees and lines of the Institu
to Official Credit, it was still
a patch that now, after the end of the bankruptcy moratorium, exposes the harsh reality.
In July, 774 bankruptcy proceedings were registered in Spain, which is 25% more than in 2021 and 32% more than the previous month.
It is also the highest figure since March 2014.
What is happening could be foreseen.
Only in the first quarter of 2022, with the impact of the economic slowdown and the rise in prices, business delinquencies increased three points compared to the previous quarter and four in year-on-year terms.
Many SMEs have been patching up the critical situation that they have been dragging on since the outbreak of covid thanks to the credit that the Government provided in order to
avoid social conflict and save time.
He was aware that he was postponing a problem - that of ghost companies - that would end up exploding.
Well, we are now at that point.
And there doesn't seem to be any money for more patches.
Added to the data that reflect a worrying drift in non-performing loans is the poor management of the credit policy.
A report from the Court of Auditors has just pointed out the mistakes made by the ICO
to date, and they are as varied as they are sultry.
Among them, the erroneous classification of the type of clients (confusing companies with freelancers, for example), inconsistencies in the start date of the activity, neglect of negative values of funds or billing (guarantees have been granted to companies that billed zero euros) or inconsistencies in the number of employees and jobs to be created.
The Court of Auditors detects duplicate operations and failures in the sections through which the guarantee lines are accessed, and denounces that the validations of the ICO have not been rigorous in general.
He provides an explanation: "These deficiencies derive from the decision to prioritize agility in the development of these lines to make them effective."
But
agility can never be the alibi for botched
, just as it does not justify corruption either.
For this reason, the Court of Auditors urges ICO to improve the computer control and monitoring system of the operations it authorizes.
The Government should have drawn the lesson of the great crisis of 2008 regarding the lack of demand in the granting of credit.
Certainly the pandemic generated an unprecedented crisis and forced to react on the fly;
but
The Government is not here to find excuses and sympathize, but to offer solutions to small and medium-sized entrepreneurs
which are once again the weakest link in the production chain.
If he did not know how to design a rigorous mechanism or present a viability plan now, in six months his passivity towards too many SMEs will be noted in the unemployment figures.
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