In addition to the scheme for reduction in working hours and special deferral of payment Following tax reforms, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy has introduced the BMKB scheme with effect from 16 March 2020 expanded. This scheme helps to safeguard the liquidity of SMEs by providing greater access to credit.
Through the lenders
The BMKB scheme involves a government guarantee. The abbreviation BMKB stands for ‘Guarantee for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises’. Entrepreneurs cannot therefore apply for it directly. They must contact their lender (often a bank), which submits the application for the BMKB scheme to the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) and can then increase the loan granted to the entrepreneur.
A guarantee means that the government stands as guarantor for (part of) the loan. As a result, lenders are willing to lend larger sums.
Under the BMKB scheme, a business is classified as an SME if it employs no more than 250 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff and has an annual turnover of up to €50 million or a balance sheet total of up to €43 million.
Current accounts as well
On the one hand, this relaxation means that the BMKB scheme also applies to bridging loans and overdraft facilities with a term of up to two years (previously, a term of one year had been specified).
On the other hand, the State guarantees 75% of the loan provided by the lender (this was previously 50%).
The current terms and conditions for the BMKB scheme can be found on the website from the Netherlands Enterprise Agency.