- The four lines of public aid are aimed at sustainable markets, markets in rural areas, commercial activity in tourist areas and the technological fund
March 1, 2023. The Government of Spain has mobilized 16.5 million euros in ten projects to improve the competitiveness of the commercial sector in the Region of Murcia as part of the support lines included in the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan.
Of this amount, about 15 million euros, 14,962,600, are intended to finance projects through sustainable market lines, markets in rural areas and strengthening commercial activity in tourist areas. The rest, 1,531,034 euros, corresponds to the Technological Fund transferred to the Autonomous Community for its management.
100 million for Technology Fund
The ‘Technological Fund’ to support the digital transformation and sustainability of small businesses has an endowment of 100 million euros to be distributed equivalently in 2022 and 2023. This fund will be managed by the Autonomous Communities and is aimed directly at small and medium-sized businesses in the commercial sector that will be able to submit their applications individually or through their associations of traders. In 2022, the first 50 million were transferred, currently in the process of being awarded, of which the Autonomous Community has already received that 1,531,034 euros.
New calls 2023
The Sectoral Conference on Internal Trade has also addressed the developments for the call for the three aid lines for 2023. Among them is the evaluation of projects of the implementation of technological solutions to improve energy efficiency in the commercial sector, serving as an incentive to local entities to promote efficiency and energy saving actions in their demarcations.
In addition, the financial allocation of the rural area aid line is increased by 22 million by 2023. The line of sustainable markets will be maintained with 60 million and the line of tourist areas will have 24 million.
Recovery and growth of employment in trade
During the meeting, the importance of the commercial sector at the national level and the opportunity presented by the Recovery Plan to improve the capacities and conditions of the commercial sector in our country were highlighted.
This sector continues to be a very important source of employment for the Spanish economy: 9.1% of the total number of employed in the economy are employed in the retail trade. Thus, retail employment recovered in the last year and grew by 2.2% in 2022, standing as the highest rate of the total in the series, as shown by the INE Occupancy Index.