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Stayin’ alive? Government support measures in Portugal during the Covid-19 pandemic

Author

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  • Márcio Mateus

    (European Systemic Risk Board Secretariat)

  • Katja Neugebauer

Abstract

During the Covid-19 crisis, the Portuguese government has provided a plethora of different support measures for firms. These included state-guaranteed loans and a public moratorium for existing loans. This paper examines the access to and uptake of these measures. What were the characteristics of firms being granted state-guaranteed loans? Were they different for firms accessing the moratorium? Did state-guaranteed loans potentially lead to an increase in zombie lending? We try to answer these questions using highly granular bank-, firm- and loan-level data for Portugal. We find that guaranteed loans went mostly to firms operating in the sectors most severely hit by the pandemic and to firms that previously had a credit relation and/or benefitted from a state guarantee. Furthermore, the Portuguese public guarantee scheme seems to mainly have supported lower-credit-risk firms. In addition to that, riskier firms also paid higher interest rates and obtained smaller guaranteed loans than more viable firms. However, in contrast to our results for the state guarantees, we find that riskier firms were more likely to benefit from the public moratorium.

Suggested Citation

  • Márcio Mateus & Katja Neugebauer, 2025. "Stayin’ alive? Government support measures in Portugal during the Covid-19 pandemic," Portuguese Economic Journal, Springer;Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestao, vol. 24(3), pages 335-372, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:portec:v:24:y:2025:i:3:d:10.1007_s10258-025-00271-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s10258-025-00271-2
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    Cited by:

    1. Diana Lima & Duarte Maia, 2023. "Prudential policy treatments to the COVID-19 economic crisis: an assessment of the effects," Working Papers w202314, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    2. Vítor Branco Oliveira & Diogo Serra & Lucas Avezum, 2023. "To use or not to use? Capital buffers and lending during a crisis," Working Papers w202308, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    3. Biswajit Banerjee & Jelena Ćirjaković, 2025. "The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on sales and employment of the non-financial corporate sector in Slovenia," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 52(2), pages 473-499, June.
    4. Tiago Pinheiro, 2023. "The Covid-19 Pandemic, Sovereign Loan Guarantees, and Financial Stability," Working Papers w202313, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.

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    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • G38 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Government Policy and Regulation

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