There will be two new changes being implemented next set.
Science Tech for upgrades- States will now have to use science instead of cash to upgrade their military units. This will offer a large boost to the techer start.
Loans- under the bank tab states will be able to take out a loan to help them be cash positive during slow times. Interest rates will be set to 3% per loan. Each state can take up to 500 million in loans. Interest is added on at the time of loan. Every time you use a turn a payment will be made. You'll see this listed in your expenses. It also breaks out how much of the expense was used for a loan payment. The payment amount is based on 400 turns to pay it back. Loans will not be granted the last week of the set and they MUST be paid back in full to have your state placed in the final ranks at the end of the set. If you have an unpaid loan your state will be deleted and not added to the stats
States are able to manually pay back the loan as well. Currently the system is set up to make a payment per turn until you reach 500.00 balance. After that you will need to manually pay off the loan. You'll see reminders each turn so you don't forget :-)
This is a nice feature to help states from time to time but be careful as it can really cost you a lot or even ruin a state if abused. There is no bankruptcy option. And you can't delete until your loan is paid off as well