September 21 (SeeNews) - The European Commission said it has proposed to the Council to deliver an additional 550 million euro ($545 million) in financial support to Croatia under the SURE instrument, designed to tackle the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis.
"Once the Council approves the proposals, the financial support will be provided in the form of loans granted on favourable terms,” the Commission said in a press release on Tuesday.
The new loan to Croatia will help cover costs, primarily incurred in 2021, related to the continuation of a short-time work scheme and a wage subsidy scheme, introduced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It will bring the total support to the country under SURE to 1.6 billion euro.
Croatia is one of nine member states who have requested additional SURE support on top of the support that the Council had already approved in 2020, along with Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Hungary, and Bulgaria.
The Commission has already disbursed 91.8 billion euro to 19 member states under SURE, and it expects to undertake the remaining borrowing operations in the coming months. 5.5 billion euro is still available under SURE for possible future requests.
($ = 1.0088 euro)