Open Access

This seminar paper examines government measures to support export-oriented companies in Belgium. After a short overview of the Belgian economy and the impact of the Covid-19 crisis, the paper introduces the available government measures for exporters. In particular, the role of Credendo as a Belgian export-credit insurance company will be discussed, and its measures will be examined in more detail. In addition, federal measures of the Belgian government will be identified, and a summary of the most important regional measures will be provided. The entirety of government measures available to export-oriented companies will be reviewed and options for the future activities of export-oriented companies will be pointed out.

The coronavirus affects the strongly export-oriented Swiss economy in a situation where political and economic developments are already making the cross-border exchange of goods and services difficult. For this reason, the question arises of how Switzerland can maintain or strengthen its position in global competition in the export business during an unprecedented period of crisis such as the current one. In order to find an answer to this question, this paper critically examines the existing government support measures for Swiss exporters in times of COVID-19. The fact that Switzerland has so far not taken any specific support measures for exporters raises the actual research question of whether there is a specific necessity and demand for a special export promotion. To answer this research question, various expert opinions are compared and overall conclusions are drawn. By rapidly introducing and adapting the already existing instruments – liquidity assistance and an expansion of short-time work benefits – the federal government was able to ensure the survival of many companies. According to the authors of this paper, this focus of government support in times of crisis is just right for a small national economy in the short term and therefore preferable to a specific support of exporters. Nevertheless, given the high relative importance of foreign trade for Switzerland’s overall economic performance, there can be no recovery of national economy without a recovery of foreign trade.

The aim of this essay is to analyse and evaluate the Italian government measures for exporters in response to COVID-19. The unexpected, rapid and hardly predictable consequences of the pandemic paralyzed the entire globe. For a long time, Italy was the epicentre of the virus, which caused severe damage in the Italian export economy dropping temporarily more than 40%. The Italian government reacted exemplary fast and took multiple countermeasures of high extent especially through the Italian export credit agency SACE. On the one hand, the internationally compared broad structure of SACE was a huge advantage, which allowed to release quickly numerous measures. On the other hand, there is room for improvement regarding the accessibility of measure-related information, which has been partially only available in Italian. Furthermore, there is a remarkable risk resulting from the combination of the high monetary effort to enable the numerous measures, the difficult financial situation of the Italian government and the unpredictability of the COVID-19 consequences.

The authors of this paper have addressed the question of what measures have been taken by the British government to support exporters in the manufacturing sector in the era of COVID-19. A classification of the manufacturing export industry in the British economy as a whole and the impending economic impact of COVID-19 were also examined. It should be noted that the United Kingdom is facing major structural changes as a result of the Corona pandemic and its withdrawal from the European Union, which are examined more in detail in this paper. The UKEF, in cooperation with other institutions, provides a number of finance facilities for exporters already before Corona crisis. The access to get this support has been facilitated for the COVID-19 affected exporters, but no additional measures were made available.

This essay deals with the Spanish economy and especially with the Spanish governmental measures for SME exporters in times of COVID-19. The focus was set on SMEs, as they are an essential part of trade for the government and are particularly affected by the pandemic. Since the financial crisis, the Spanish economy has become highly diversified, with a greater focus on exports. Competitiveness, productivity and efficiency have increased significantly. The Spanish government measures largely affect the areas liquidity and financing, taxes and protection of the employment. One of the most important measures is the 100-billion-euro credit line and the policies on unemployment. The Spanish government is dependent on further aid packages and is criticized for the measures.

The research paper provides important findings about the development, difficulties and perception of the support measures for exporters introduced by the Austrian government in times of COVID-19 crisis. Based on a literature review using secondary data, eight qualitative interviews were conducted with experts from the Austrian economy and government, among them the Austrian ECA ‘Oesterreichische Kontrollbank AG’. To balance the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Austrian economy, a broad coverage with financing instruments for a wide range of target groups was established. Although the support measures have been well received by companies, insolvencies cannot completely be prevented. Nevertheless, the actual effects are not yet predictable and need to be assessed in further research at a later point in time.