2023-05-16 10:23:00
“A sledgehammer! This is how the Swiss Federation of Event Professionals (FSPE) perceives the interest rate hike for Covid loans. The Federal Council took this decision at the end of March. The rate goes from 0 to 1.5% for loans up to 500,000 francs and from 0.5 to 2% for higher sums.
With the ban on gatherings at the start of 2020, the sector was one of the first affected by the crisis. He was also one of the last to be able to resume his activities.
Today, event companies have not yet regained their cruising speed, believes the president of the FSPE. In this sector, explains Carole Tschäppät, events are often prepared a year in advance. “Those canceled in 2021 for 2022, despite an end to the crisis, might not be done. There is a shortfall”.
The FSPE joins forces with the Swiss Business Federation which has launched a petition. The text asks the Federal Council to reverse its decision and maintain interest rates at 0% for one more year.
In the canton of Neuchâtel, not all event professionals are in the same boat. While they took advantage of Covid emergency loans, which enabled them to get through this difficult period, some were able, thanks to the resumption of business, to repay their loan. They are therefore not affected by this increase in the interest rate.
This is not the case of everyone. Example with Stéphane Barbezat, of the Roxayde company, in Verrières. For his company, this increase in rates represents a bad surprise. “We will have to repay as soon as possible,” he explains, to the detriment of investments.
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