BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany plans to introduce a waiver on bankruptcy filing for businesses affected by last month’s devastating floods, the Justice Ministry said on Wednesday.
Parliament will have to approve the waiver, which expires at the end of October, in a vote.
“We have to prevent a situation where businesses must file for bankruptcy simply because they could not access financial aid in time,” Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht said in a statement.
German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said on Tuesday that rebuilding would cost more than 6 billion euros ($7.11 billion). He was speaking during a visit to one of the towns affected by the floods, which killed at least 180 people and were the most devastating in more than 60 years.
Germany introduced a similar waiver last year to prevent a wave of insolvencies resulting from the lockdowns implemented to contain the novel coronavirus.
(Reporting by Christian Kraemer; Writing by Joseph Nasr; editing by Barbara Lewis)
