The Minister of the Economy assured that “less than 1% of entrepreneurs plan to close or slow down their production” in the face of the explosion in prices.
SourceAFP
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“Ithere is no wall of bankruptcies”: faced with soaring energy prices, the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire dismissed on Wednesday the hypothesis of an explosion in the number of companies which would be forced to put the key under the door. “There is an explosion in electricity and gas prices which is hard for thousands of entrepreneurs, but they are coping,” said the government’s number two on France Inter.
“It’s difficult, we support them, but I will not let it be said that it will be accompanied by a wave of closures, bankruptcies, because this is not the case”, he insisted, the day after the announcement of specific support measures for bakers. “Today, less than 1% of entrepreneurs plan to close or slow down their production,” assured Bruno Le Maire based on figures from INSEE.
“Few companies really in great difficulty”
According to the latest business survey from the National Institute of Statistics, which specifically questioned industrial companies, the total drop in their production “directly linked to the rise in energy prices” would be around barely 1.5%. In its latest survey published at the end of October, the Confederation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises for its part suggests that 9% of managers of VSEs/SMEs “envisage a cessation of their activity due to the rise in energy prices”. A figure that the government “contests”, indicated Bruno Le Maire.
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“You can give the example of Duralex or William Saurin”, two companies which recently announced a suspension or partial stoppage of their activity due to the explosion of energy costs, “but you will not be able to find hundreds of examples,” added Bruno Le Maire. “There are few companies really in great difficulty in the face of the explosion in electricity prices, and which would suddenly close or slow down their activity”, estimated the minister.