Chamber of Crafts of Thessaloniki requests support for small and medium enterprises to avoid bankruptcies

The Thessaloniki Chamber of Crafts requests the taking of measures for additional support of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and households, which due to covid-19 are still in financial difficulties.

“The only way for the media to avoid the final closure is to be supported by the government with brave measures”, the president of the Chamber Anastasios Kapnopolis emphasizes in a letter to the Minister of Finance Christos Staikouras, pointing out that “request of the chamber world, but also European countries, is the write-off of part of the private debt “.

Among the elements that the president of the Chamber incorporates in his letter, in order to demonstrate the dire financial position of the SMEs, is the issuance of more than three times more payment orders for companies issued by the Court of First Instance of Thessaloniki until September this year, compared to 2019. In a relevant announcement by the Chamber, until September of this year, 5,323 payment orders were issued, from 1,630 in the whole of 2019, while in the 9 months of 2021, 378 auctions and seizures took place, 134 bankruptcies and 1,491 pre-notations.

The Thessaloniki Chamber of Crafts proposes a series of measures, including the suspension of the Excise Tax on the increase of energy prices during the crisis and the reduction of VAT from 13% to 6% for the same period, so as not to increase the prices of basic necessities necessary for households.