Evidence on the impact of the public guarantee and direct aid schemes on Spanish firms during the covid-19 crisis

Abstract

After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic authorities in many countries took steps to support firms’ liquidity and solvency. This article analyses the effects of two such measures implemented by the Spanish authorities: the public guarantee schemes and direct aid. The results show that public guarantees were essential in enabling many companies to cover their main liquidity needs. In particular, this scheme was especially useful for SMEs and for companies operating in the sectors hit more severely by the health crisis, although it did not significantly alleviate the increased funding needs of companies without prior credit relationships. For its part, direct aid appears to have contributed to a very moderate reduction in the business solvency problems generated by the COVID-19 crisis, since only a small part of the aid was allocated to those companies that needed solvency support.