AGI – Of the 64.7 billion euros of direct aid made available by the Conte and Draghi governments to economic activities to deal with the Covid emergency, just under 50 percent has not yet been accredited, since these are resources largely provided for by the 2021 Budget Law. This is the estimate of the Cgia Studies Office, according to which only 22.8 billion are non-repayable resources (equal to 35.2 per cent of the total) . If compared to the approximately 350 billion euros of contraction in turnover recorded by Italian companies in 2020, these 64.7 billion They “cover” only 18.5 per cent of total lost receipts.
According to the CGIA, “the Draghi government must accelerate not only on the vaccination front, but also on the speed of delivery of measures to support micro enterprises and self-employed workers. The next support decree, in fact, will be an important test case. Not only because the economic dimension will have to be decidedly more consistent than the previously approved measures, but also because they will have to arrive in the current account of entrepreneurs very quickly “.
In 2021, 35.5 billion in aid is already foreseen
The CGIA recalls that of the 35.5 billion euros of aid so far foreseen for the current year, 6.5 will allow the Inps deduction for new hires and another 6.3 will be disbursed as tax credit for investments. If we add the 2.5 billion Inps deduction from VAT numbers that last year lost more than a third of turnover, these 15.3 billion euros (equal to 43 percent of the total aid for 2021) ” it is unlikely – claims the CGIA – that they will be the prerogative of micro enterprises and self-employed workers who have been the most affected by the crisis. Firstly, because at this moment they certainly do not need to hire; secondly because they certainly do not have liquidity to activate new investments; thirdly, due to the absence of the decree of the Ministry of Labor which had to be approved within the first few days of last March, they cannot yet benefit from the INPS contribution discount “.
“Serious delays”
“Our main problem – underlines the CGIA – is not the closures imposed by decree by our Government, given that currently in all the other main European countries the confinement measures are more stringent than ours, but the economic aid, which we have. they arrived insufficiently and with serious delay. Elsewhere, however, they were provided promptly and with very important dimensions. Putting Italian micro and small businesses to safety means safeguarding an important slice of the economy of our country. The numbers speak for themselves.
Net of civil servants, businesses with fewer than 20 employees make up 98 per cent of the companies present in the country and employ the majority of Italians, that is to say to 54.6 per cent of the employed. Furthermore, these micro realities produce 37 per cent of the annual national added value, a score not found in any other large EU country.
The absence of large companies
With an economy based on very small businesses, but with economic / employment performances of giants, the competitiveness of our country is affected above all by the absence of large companies. For many decades, in fact, the latter have disappeared, certainly not due to the excessive number of small production companies present in Italy, but due to the inability of the large players, mainly of a public nature, to withstand the challenge launched by globalization.
Until 1985, in fact, Italy was among the world leaders in chemicals, plastics, rubber, steel, aluminum, information technology and pharmaceuticals. Thanks to the role and weight of many large public and private companies (Montedison, Montefibre, Pirelli, Italsider, Alumix, Olivetti, Angelini, etc.), the country’s economy revolved around these sectors. After more than 35 years, however, we have lost ground and leadership in almost all of these areas. And this happened not because of a cynical and cheating destiny, but as a result of a selection that has relegated them out of the market “.
The CGIA research office underlines the need for a return to look more closely at the business world, especially to small and micro businesses, given that “the effects of the pandemic are falling with unprecedented violence, especially on those in the tertiary sector and services which, if not adequately helped, risk closing permanently”.
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