Support package for SMEs ready by November, Minister says

The Cabinet plans to present a support package to help entrepreneurs with inflation and increasing energy prices by November, Minister Micky Adriaansens of Economic Affairs said to Nieuwsuur. There just wasn’t enough time to present the package on Budget Day, like the package for households, she said.

“We want to help in a targeted way,” Adriaansens said. She mainly wants to support small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that use a lot of energy, like bakeries, garden centers, and saunas. That group also faces increased corporate taxes, higher rents, rising wages, and sometimes coronavirus debts. “I am very concerned about that group of SMEs,” she said.

Adriaansens added that the Cabinet would not give “unbridled” support like in the coronavirus crisis. “That could have a disruptive effect in the long run.” She’s also against making large companies pay to help small entrepreneurs. “We also want to maintain an interesting business climate for the Netherlands.”

The Minister said she understands that people are struggling and impatient for the government to come up with help. “I can imagine that people think: why is nothing happening?” She said that the government has already done a lot. “But we need to show that better.”