Only €26M from €16.6Bn paid out to companies

 In News, Portugal RRP

Over one-half of the ‘bazooka’ funds set aside to help the economy recover from the effects of Covid-19 has already been earmarked.

However, the money is taking its time reaching the accounts of those companies that most need it.
Private companies had received just €26 million under the Recovery and Resilience Fund (RRP) by the end of September.
All told, the RRP has €16.644Bn and according to the latest update, which involves half of this amount (€8.5Bn), has already been approved.
However, more than one year after the first competitions for the funds were launched, in June 2021, only 5% of the money has gone to the successful applicants. (€824 million). Of this amount, €716 million was destined for the public sector, including public companies or schools, heavily disfavouring the private sector.
The competitions that have already been launched had an input of €10,102 million and of the 131,799 candidacies submitted, 72,310 were approved.
As to the amount approved for companies, there were 14,549 candidacies, of which 8,948 have seen their applications approved corresponding to €2,049 million investment in assisted projects.
However, only €26 million were actually paid out to companies despite those companies and their projects being defined. The funds still have yet to be paid.