The president and vice president of the Canary Islands Government, Ángel Víctor Torres and Román Rodríguez, respectively, presented this Friday an extraordinary economic plan endowed with 400 million euros to help various sectors, such as restaurants, shops, gyms and tourism, affected by the economic shutdown caused by the coronavirus crisis.
Torres explained during a press conference that the plan consists of two parts: on the one hand, the fiscal part, which will have a widespread impact on the economy as a whole and will focus on the postponement of tax debts for six months, which will amount to 41.8 million euros; as well as the postponement of the Canary Islands General Indirect Tax (IGIC) in the first quarter, which will involve 194 million euros.
He added that these 235.8 million euros that represent the tax deferrals will come from a credit policy that the Government of the Canary Islands will subscribe. He also clarified, in relation to the postponement of the IGIC, that the town councils "will receive what corresponds to them".
As for the second part of the plan, it focuses on direct aid for restaurants, shops, sports and tourist centers for an amount of 165 million euros, which in this case is expected to come from European funds, a matter that is being negotiated, although both Torres and Rodríguez say that if it could not be financed with European funds, it would be covered with its own resources through debt "if necessary".
The president added that it is expected that some 20,000 Canarian companies could benefit from direct aid.
For his part, the vice president of the Canary Islands Government, Román Rodríguez, stressed that this plan means "giving a further response" from the regional Executive to the "critical" moment that is being experienced "first in health but also in the economy".
Thus, he defended that these extraordinary measures "are the continuity" of those adopted in 2020, when 95.3 million euros were allocated between March and December to try to alleviate the effects of the health and economic crisis caused by the coronavirus.
Rodríguez assured that direct aid is non-refundable, although it will be done through public calls, establishing requirements that must be met, and with the times required by the relevant legislation.
He also clarified that this is "exceptional aid, it is once", and for which he pointed out "the resources of the budget are not touched". Thus, the fiscal measures are expected to be approved in the next Governing Council so that they can enter into force as of their publication in the Official Gazette of the Canary Islands (BOC), while in the direct aid the criteria that will be required to access them and that they can reach everyone are being studied.
Reprogramming European funds
In relation to financing the 165 million euros of direct aid to the sectors most affected by the coronavirus crisis currently with European funds, Rodríguez pointed out that they are negotiating with the Ministry of Finance the possibility of reprogramming the European funds of the RIAC to be able to justify these aids "necessary for the crisis before the European Union", a matter that he assured they have "very high" probabilities of achieving.
Likewise, Rodríguez clarified that this plan "does not exclude" that the rest of the councils can generate complementary aid because "the budgets of none are being touched", since this is a plan "extraordinary, extra-budgetary", as well as added that it is not ruled out that town councils and councils give aid.
Finally, in relation to the possibility of lowering or raising taxes in the Canary Islands, he pointed out that this is a matter agreed in the regional Executive and the "taxes are not touched".
