(Finance) – Le tertiary companies, ANCC-COOP, ANCD-Conad, ConfcommercioAnd Federdistribuzionemet in Rome at the Confcommercio headquarters to take stock of the unstoppable growth of cost of energy which is affecting companies in the tertiary market, services and modern distribution with increases in bills and management costs that are no longer sustainable. “A scenario that – reads a note -, in the absence of new and further measures of contrast and support, seriously jeopardizes the continuation of the activity of many companies in the coming months, as pointed out by Confcommercio in a recent appeal to the government and political forces. During the press conference a document was also presented with the requests and proposals of the companies “.
Confcommercio has invited all merchants to turn off the lights of their activities starting at 12:00 for 15 minutes for raise awareness further public opinion with respect to the issue in question.
To counter these effects and avoid the risk of business closure, Confcommercio, ANCC-Coop, ANCD-Conad and Federdistribuzione also shared a series of proposals to the Government and Parliament to be implemented urgently: increase of tax credit for expensive electricity from 15% to 50% in the case of increases in the cost of energy exceeding 100%, a measure that will also be extended to the last quarter of the year; extension of the time horizon for the installment payments bills at least until December 2022;
up to 90% increase in coverage offered by Guarantee Fund for SMEs also for the loans requested by companies to meet the liquidity needs determined by the increase in the price of electricity.
Speaking at the press conference, the deputy vice president of Confcommercio, Lino Enrico Stoppanihe stressed that there are “entire supply chains, from food to transport, which were trying to restart after the difficulties caused by the pandemic are facing an increase in energy costs that reduces any possibility of recovery of margins. The number of companies that the risk of closure is 120 thousand with 370 thousand seats. The second risk is that of a drop in consumption that brings with it the impossibility of managing the public debt. For this reason we ask for emergency interventions in addition to structural measures “.
According to Stoppani, “this situation has come about because there have been events unpredictable. Surely we need more Europe than fixing a roof on price of the gasbut we also need more Italy to carry out an energy policy that focuses on renewables “.” One of the risks of expensive bills – said Stoppani – is the drop in consumption: so goodbye to dreams of growth, which is essential to have credibility on the financial markets “.