Under the costs not covered scheme, companies can get money to pay for expenditure, such as operating expenses, payroll, financial and other external charges. This aid applies for companies with a turnover of at least €15,000 who suffered a loss of turnover of 40% or more. At least one self-employed person must be affiliated with Luxembourg’s social security system.

As of May this year, the government had spent more than €50m on 3,104 eligible businesses.

Under the recovery aid programme, businesses can get up to €800,000 or 85% of the loss of turnover over the course of six months based on the number of employees they have. Companies must have a valid business licence and suffered a loss of turnover of at least 25%.

The two schemes are mutually exclusive but the deadlines for both expire on 15 September. “It is essential that requests are made as soon as possible,” said the minister for small and medium-sized enterprises, Lex Delles (DP), in a statement.

A third source of funding--to help companies pay for a minimum wage increase that came into effect at the start of the year--expires on 30 September.

The government earlier this year its partial unemployment programme under which it pays for 80% of wages of employees working reduced hours because of economic downturn.

Luxembourg this year returned to pre-crisis GDP levels, after its economy shrank by a comparatively small 1.3% last year. The European Commission expects growth to be 4.8% this year and 3.3% next year.

The country has so far caused by the covid-19 pandemic. However, a think tank by the Chamber of Commerce has warned that businesses might struggle to survive once government support winds down.