The President of the Generalitat, Ximo Puig, announced this Saturday the launch of a new line of support for ceramic companies endowed with 50 million euros and aimed at covering the most urgent liquidity needs of the sector.
Ximo Puig has made this announcement within the framework of the meeting he has held with the director of the Valencian Institute of Finance (IVF), Manuel Illueca, and has indicated that the call for these subsidies will be published this Monday in the Official Gazette of the Generalitat Valenciana (DOGV).
“The objective of the aid is to provide liquidity to a key sector, which is suffering a lot due to the increase in the price of energy, and to guarantee that it can meet its payments with guarantees, especially at a time like the present in which the conditions of access to credit have hardened notably”, said Puig.
As this newspaper has reported, the situation in the sector is complicated with Ertes and Eres in many companies. A few weeks ago, the Spanish Association of Ceramic Tile and Pavement Manufacturers (ASCER) asked the Spanish Government for more aid and warned that "much more determined action" is needed because "more than 400 jobs have already been destroyed and there are more than 7,000 employees in ERTE".
In this context, the President of the Generalitat has stressed that "gas and electricity bills have triggered production costs in those sectors that are intensive in their use". strategic industries for the Valencian Community, such as the manufacture of ceramic flooring and wall tiles or the enamel sector, "with a great tradition in our territory and enormous weight in terms of job creation and added value".
The order contemplates loans of up to 10 million per business group, so that the needs of large companies in the sector are also covered. Likewise, the amount of the loans will not have to be repaid until the maturity of the credit, after four years.
The credit line is called before the approval of the Generalitat Budget for the next financial year 2023, using the IVF's own resources, with the aim that the money reaches the companies as soon as possible, in line with the commitment reached by the Consell during the Ceramic Table meeting.
"In this way, we attend to the pressing needs of the sector without having to wait for the 2023 accounts to be approved. Since we promised to activate this line of credit, there are already several companies that have been interested in the aid and we have wanted to be as agile as possible. possible”, has revealed the head of the Consell.
To these 50 million allocated to the ceramic sector another 10 million will be added for companies in other activity groups, such as textiles, or that also make intensive use of energy.
Ximo Puig has taken advantage of the announcement, in the midst of the controversy within the Valencian left, to reiterate the commitment of the Consell to implement renewable energies to "achieve energy sovereignty", and to promote new technologies, such as green hydrogen or electrification, to generate “security, certainty and the ability to be competitive in the future”.
