FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - The German Economic Stabilization Fund (WSF) created during the coronavirus crisis has closed a financial year with a profit for the second time. 109.7 million euros plus were reported in the balance sheet at the end of December 2023, as announced by the Federal Finance Agency in Frankfurt on Wednesday. A year earlier, the fund had posted a loss of 26.3 million euros. A profit of 104.1 million euros was recorded for 2022, while the fund made a loss of 25.9 million euros in its first year of existence in 2020. The federal government's debt managers explained last year's plus with income from the early repayment of funds and interest income.

The fund was set up by the federal government shortly after the outbreak of the pandemic in spring 2020 to directly help large companies in need due to the coronavirus crisis within a total framework of originally up to 600 billion euros. As part of the extension of the WSF, the total amount was adjusted to 250 billion euros as of January 1, 2022. Lufthansa and the travel group Tui, among others, received aid from this pot.

Originally, the WSF was limited until the end of 2021, but after an extension, the fund was able to grant stabilization measures until 30 June 2022. 25 companies were promised aid with a total volume of over 9.6 billion euros. Of this, 6.4 billion euros had been paid out by the end of last year, of which 4.4 billion euros had been repaid by the balance sheet date. In addition to direct and indirect investments, the fund's instruments include the refinancing of loans via the state-owned KfW development bank. In the period from November 2022 to December 2023, the WSF also served to finance measures to mitigate the consequences of the energy crisis./ben/DP/jha