Among the government’s aid programs, The most common program that has helped businesses is financing workers in the IDF, and the one that has helped businesses the most to overcome the crisis is the state-guaranteed lending program, according to a CBS executive survey released today.
In the survey, the managers were asked to what extent they facilitated the plans implemented by the government to deal with the crisis. These are programs such as the distribution of state-guaranteed loans, the deferral of repayment of debts to banks, the provision of financing to employees who are in the Knesset, the distribution of grants for the return of employees from the Knesset or the retention of employees and the distribution of grants for reduced income.
Of the five different government subsidies, the most common is the financing scheme in the Knesset, where about 59% of businesses used it. They needed government funding for their employees who went to the IDF. There were no businesses in the hotel industry that did not need this assistance, and in the food and beverage services industry the proportion of businesses that reported not needing it was only 13%.
If one examines the support programs according to the degree of assistance, it turns out that the program that helped the most to overcome the crisis is the provision of state-guaranteed loans. About 63% of those who received this assistance indicated that it helped them greatly to overcome the crisis. In most industries at least 49% of businesses reported that they did not need a state-guaranteed loan. The exceptional industries are hotels and hospitality and food services (restaurants) in which only about 13% and 23% of businesses, respectively, did not need this assistance. These industries have been most affected by the corona crisis.
The CBS also found that about 26% of all businesses received assistance in deferring loan repayments and debt settlements. In the hotel industry, about 56% of businesses received this assistance, and in the food and beverage services industry, about 42%.
According to the CBS survey, about 41% of businesses did not need support from government funding for workers in the IDF. The construction industry has the highest percentage of businesses that did not need this assistance and did not outsource their workers (about 56% of businesses), and indeed this industry was exceeded by most restrictions throughout the crisis. And about 68% of the businesses that outsourced their work to the hotel industry indicated that this policy greatly helped them get through the corona crisis.
Retention of employees – especially in hotels
Employee retention grant has greatly assisted hotel business compared to other industries. About 54% of the managers in the hotel industry stated that this grant greatly helped them overcome the crisis, while in the other industries this percentage was lower than 24%.
Regarding the income reduction grant, the CBS found that in the hotel industry there were no businesses that did not need a grant for income reduction, and in the food and beverage industry the proportion of businesses that reported that they did not need this assistance was only 22%. The businesses did not need a grant due to a loss of revenue.