The government of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel has unveiled a new “limitless” loan program for huge numbers of small and medium-sized enterprises in Germany, filling the gap in an unprecedented amount of aid to mitigate the economic impact of the spread of COVID-19.

The government will guarantee 100% of the loans for companies with between 11 and 250 employees, said the German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz at a joint press conference with Economy Minister Peter Altmaier. Loans of up to 800,000 EUR (862,000 USD) will be provided quickly to help businesses cover costs such as rent payments, which are severely affected by supply and demand disruptions.

“We’ve already talked about the famous bazooka, there is no limit to that”, said Peter Altmaier. “We hope that the limit will be dictated by the course of the pandemic”, added the Economy Minister.

The new guarantee program is just the vanguard of an army of measures to counter what Angela Merkel described as “Germany’s greatest challenge since World War II”. The government said this year the country’s economy could shrink by more than 5% as a result of the sovereign debt emergency in 2008 and 2009.

Small family-owned companies are crucial for Germany and account for more than half of employment in the whole country.

The program is a continuation of the earlier plan to support companies by providing background liquidity. This program covers only 80% to 90% of credit risk, and banks are no longer willing to lend to some companies as the economy shrinks.

Initially, the loans will be accompanied by 3% interest, but companies can trade them for better conditions if they meet the requirements.

“The measure is an additional, important contribution to stabilizing our economy”, said the German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz.