Direct business subsidies rise by 0.5% in 2019

Direct business subsidies grew by 0.5 per cent to EUR 476 million in 2019, according to the Statistics Finland.

The amount of guarantees granted to enterprises increased by 9.4 per cent, being EUR 806.3 million and the amount of loans paid to enterprises decreased by 9.6 per cent to EUR 314 million.

Business subsidies were paid or granted to 27,848 enterprises.

Direct subsidies and loans were paid and guarantees were granted to a total of 25,439 enterprises in 2019. Direct subsidies were granted to 21,360 enterprises, loans to 1,756 and guarantees to 4,213.

Taking into account the enterprises to which subsidies were granted or from which subsidies were recovered, a total of 27,848 enterprises were covered by business subsidies. This is 1.1 per cent fewer than that in the year before.

The majority of the enterprises that received subsidies were micro enterprises (67.4%).

Examined by industry, service industries had the highest number of recipients of subsidies. Small enterprises and manufacturing enterprises received most of the direct subsidies.

In relative terms, the amount of direct subsidies grew most in trade and in forest industry and decreased most in service industries.

The amount of direct subsidies paid to enterprises varied depending on the size of the enterprise. On an average, large enterprises received EUR 198,700 in direct subsidies, medium-size enterprises EUR 74,300, small enterprises EUR 30,500 and micro enterprises around EUR 11,600.

Examined by industry, irrespective of the type of subsidy, the largest amounts of subsidies per enterprise were received by enterprises in the forest industry and the second largest in the metal industry.

The statistics are composed of loans and guarantees granted by Finnvera, subsidies and loans paid by Business Finland, as well as direct subsidies paid by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. The statistics do not include agricultural subsidies or various tax subsidies.