The French government said on Tuesday it is ready to use all measures necessary to support big companies suffering during the current global market turmoil caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I won’t hesitate to use all means available to protect big French companies,” Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on a call with journalists, adding: “That can be done by recapitalisation, that can be done by taking a stake, I can even use the term nationalisation if necessary.”
According to the Financial Times citing Le Maire, Paris has also promised a package of measures worth €45 billion (US$49.8bn) to help companies and employees withstand the pandemic-linked storm. The package will include payments to temporarily redundant workers and postponed tax and social security bills.
The aid measures also include €300 billion of state guarantees for bank loans to businesses and €1 trillion of such guarantees from European institutions, Le Maire said.
On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron ordered a stricter lockdown across the entire country, which has the seventh-highest number of confirmed Covid-19 cases after China, Italy, Iran, Spain, South Korea, and Germany.
