Sectoral COVID-19 State aid in Poland in 2020

Abstract

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic governments of all the EU Member States
have put in place a series of instruments designed to contain the spread of the
coronavirus and reduce health problems of the population. In most cases, these
instruments have led to business restrictions or even shutdowns in selected sectors.
They also distorted supply and production chains and negatively affected
the supply of goods and services available in the EU market drastically reducing
demand for some goods and, at the same time, substantially increasing demand
for other goods. Distorted market balance resulted in significant reductions in investment
efforts undertaken by firms, governments, and households. Consequently,
the EU economy observed the liquidity crisis caused by the absence of B2B,
B2C transactions and transactions with public authorities. State aid distributed in
the form of financial resources to entrepreneurs was one of instruments that helped
to enhance liquidity. On the one hand, the instrument is effective but, on the other
hand, it may significantly distort competition rules in the European Union.
Considering the above, the goal of this paper is to identify and initially assess
sectoral coronavirus-related state aid in Poland in 2020. To start with, the
position of Poland is discussed against the background of other Member States
in the light of potential intensity of COVID-19 state aid, as well as tools provided
for in Polish aid schemes. Next, statistical analysis of the shares of sectors of
economy in acquired support instruments offered in 2020 is carried out together
with the assessment of allowable COVID-19 state aid intensity for industries,
taking account of their share in value added, total number of workplaces, and the
number of companies.