“I am pleased that this time we were able to respond as quickly as possible and enable, for the first time, advance payments for the damage inventory. We have made it very easy to apply for advance payments in order to help businesses repair the damage quickly and get their affected production back on track as soon as possible. I would like to see this practice maintained in the future, as more than 60% of all eligible businesses that submitted a damage assessment applied for an advance payment,” said Matjaž Han, Minister for the Economy, Tourism and Sport. On this occasion, Mr Han thanked the staff of the Ministry of the Economy, Tourism and Sport and the Ministry of Finance as well as the Slovene Enterprise Fund, who have worked intensively to ensure that businesses have already received their payments.

On 20 September, the deadline also expired for the submission of damage assessments for those claimants from the business sector that did not apply for an advance payment. A total of 1,173 businesses have submitted damage assessments totalling €380.85 million, which includes 708 companies that have requested an advance payment. The largest amount of damage reported by businesses was to machinery and equipment, amounting to €168.25 million, followed by damage to inventories amounting to €90.77 million and €121.83 million for loss of income.

In addition, the Ministry of the Economy, Tourism and Sport was responsible for collecting damage assessments from associations and public-interest institutions in the fields of tourism, sport and consumer protection. Two damage assessments were submitted by tourism associations and public-interest institutions for a total of €1,667, while 41 injured parties submitted damage assessments relating to sports associations and public-interest institutions for a total of €2.39 million. The Ministry did not receive any applications in the area of consumer protection and did not collect any damage assessments relating to social enterprises, as there are no associations and institutions that have been granted the status of an association or public-interest institution by the Ministry.