NÖN: After eleven months of a pandemic in Lower Austria, how are your 106,000 active chamber members?
Johannes Schedlbauer: We are very lucky in Lower Austria that we are broadly positioned: There is no clear focus on tourism or industrial strongholds that are severely affected by Corona. Many small and medium-sized tourism companies, such as in the Wachau, had a relatively good business situation in the summer despite Corona, but this winter is tragic for many. Lower Austria has a strong food industry, a solid chemical industry, some of which are even systemically relevant, and of course also automotive suppliers, who, on the other hand, were very affected. This diversity also brings with it a variety of problems. There are many suppliers in sectors such as gastronomy or industry, which unfortunately have been massively affected by God, but unfortunately benefit very little from all the help until today.
Which companies are you among the “Corona winners?
As a Corona winner, I wouldn’t see any business. We sometimes have industries that produce products for and in times of crisis and supply them to the healthcare industry. Such as protective equipment from Semperit or citric acid from Jungbunzlauer, which were desperately looking for workers. In retail there is of course the big profiteer from the grocery trade, because the catering trade was closed and many more relied on self-sufficiency. But there are plenty of other industries where you can almost speak of a disaster.
What is currently threatening the existence of companies?
Two factors: the lack of predictability in companies. Politicians know that too. But she has no answer. You have to understand that because the situation is the same in all European countries. We want schools and retailers to be allowed to unlock. Just unlocking the trade is only half the battle. The gastro is one of them. The second factor is liquidity. Companies and people are running out of money. Many have put their employees on short-time work, trusting the vaccination start, and of course pre-financed this. A young hairdresser has wages of 20,000 euros a month. At the same time, the AMS is subject to all the short-time working conditions and processing. These are facts.
Vice-Chancellor Werner Kogler said recently that 31 billion euros in economic aid have already flowed in or been pledged. Entrepreneurs and tax consultants see it differently. Is the Corona economic aid not arriving?
You will arrive. This hairdresser is also entitled to the service, but she must always be on good terms with her bank, which finances this pre-financing every month. In return, the bank has to trust her that if she can unlock, she’ll start earning.
Is a massive, delayed wave of bankruptcies threatening us in Lower Austria this year, as many fear?
It depends on the integration options you have as a company in order to find a solution together with the bank, social security and tax authorities. When at some point the state says: ‘Now all our options are over. From now on life is going back to normal ‘, then all liabilities would immediately come into play. Then I immediately provoke a wave of bankruptcies. The state still has plenty of options to regulate, for example with an installment payment model for wage taxes. That’s still a lot inside.
Due to the Corona aid, there will certainly be more delayed insolvency proceedings, but the wave can be safely prevented with regulation. If the state does not give the banks scope for this, then I will provoke the wave. In this context, bank representatives speak of a cliff effect: People are pushed to the cliff and then they are told: “So now you can go on on your own.”
What are the biggest pitfalls in the corona economic aid thicket?
The most important thing is to stay on the ball and to keep yourself informed. There are deadlines for sales replacement. If I overlooked them, I’m out. I don’t have that with the fixed cost allowance and loss compensation. With these two aids, it is generally recommended to wait a bit and not go too far into the prognosis, because you can basically choose the better months. Simply talk to the accountant and tax advisor to find out what is best in the specific case. There is no general answer to this.
When can entrepreneurs expect a recovery? And how long is the economic aid necessary?
I am optimistic. I fully expect the economy to become livelier in May and June. A relatively normal life should be possible again from July. That’s what I’m expecting. If you come to a regulation on how to repay that as an individual company, then you will need direct help probably by the end of June – provided we can open up trading in February. When it comes to short-time working, we have to find a new model at social partner level for those industries that will be partially or fully affected up to and including 2022, such as airports, travel agencies, bus companies.
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