The conference room of the Ministry of the Economy and Finance was the setting on Tuesday, September 7, 2021 for a meeting with the umbrella organizations of socio-professional organizations followed by a press conference on the second support from the government with the support of the World Bank to companies affected by the health crisis. Mr. Arsène DANSOU, Managing Director of the Autonomous Amortization Fund (CAA) and Rafiou BELLO, Managing Director of the National Microfinance Fund (FNM) were the speakers in this dual activity.

19 billion to support formal and informal businesses impacted by the Coronavirus. This is the amount allocated for this second phase of the National Socio-economic Response Plan to Covid 19. The objective of this government initiative, with the support of the World Bank, is to support vulnerable micro and small businesses. affected by the crisis in order to help them remain viable and competitive. Launched since August 26, 2021, it ends on September 16, 2021.

This initiative, which is part of the social program of the government of Patrice TALON, covers all sectors of economic activity. It extends to both formal and informal enterprises with between 3 and 9 employees for micro-enterprise promoters and 10 to 49 employees for small enterprises. They must be born before January 1, 2021 to justify that they have suffered the full brunt of the adverse impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the explanations of the Director General of CAA, Mr. Arsène DANSOU, the financial support that will be granted to them consists of a fixed amount paid to the company and a variable to be paid to the employee. The micro-enterprise will benefit from a fixed aid of 56,000 FCFA plus a variable assistance of 25,000 FCFA per employee while the fixed prize pool of the small enterprise amounts to 279,000 FCFA plus a variable amount of 25,000 FCFA per employee. As for the informal enterprise, they will be allocated a lump sum of 67,000 FCFA.

Speaking of the conditions of eligibility of sectors of activity for this second phase, the Director General of the National Microfinance Fund (FNM), Rafiou BELLO, indicates that, for micro and small enterprises in the formal sector, it must be recognized by the tax authorities, have a unique fiscal identifier (IFU)… a complete file. For micro and small enterprises in the informal sector, they just need to fill out a reference form, have identity paper, and be recognized by the umbrella organizations. There is nothing to be afraid of in order to be sincere in the information to be provided by companies. As proof, none of the companies that submitted their file for the first phase had any problems afterwards.

Source: Government of the Republic of Benin