Government weighs up Tallink €150 million state loan application

The government has been discussing a proposed €150 million loan to shipping line and hotels operator Tallink Group at its cabinet meeting Thursday.
Tallink, hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, applied for the loan via state agency KredEx; the latter had also sent provisional loan terms to Tallink to peruse.
As reported on ERR News, economics affairs minister Taavi Aas (Center) had previously thought the discussions would be put back to next week, adding that the loan question will only be on the agenda if agreement is reached on its terms.
Other support measures discussed at the Thursday meeting included rental support to stores in shopping malls which had been closed since late March. Terms of this measure have not been finalized yet, however, and will be on the agenda at the next cabinet meeting. Shopping malls reopen fully on May 11.
The supplementary budget which passed the Riigikogu vote in mid-April provides €300 million for state-owned companies or companies of strategic importance.
All loan applications in excess of €10 million must be approved separately by the government, with Tallink's the only application of that size so far, according to ERR's online news in Estonian, though taxi-hailing app and one of Estonia's two unicorn companies, Bolt, requested €50 million in relief from the state around a month ago, in response to the effects of the pandemic.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte