April 1 (SeeNews) - North Macedonia's government said it will implement a second package of economic measures aimed at reducing the impact of the coronavirus outbreak with a focus on support for workers.
Under the latest set of measures, the government will subsidise 50% of the social contributions for employees in the coronavirus-affected firms, it said in a press release on Tuesday evening.
The government will also pay minimum salaries for April and May to workers in companies affected by the epidemic, as well as people working in sports and arts.
Workers who are laid off as a result of the crisis will get a monthly government compensation equal to 50% of their average salary in the past 24 months.
The new measures also foresee pay cuts for all government officials, members of parliament and mayors. The government officials will receive minimum salaries in April and May. Board members of public institutions will not receive any compensation during the crisis.
In addition, households with unemployed members will receive a 7,000 denars ($124.5/113.8 euro) stimulus.
The measures were designed in consultations with members of the economic council specially formed for this purpose, the business community and economic experts, prime minister Oliver Spasovski said.
Under the measures, banks will be able to postpone credit payments more easily and credit installments will be reduced in the next three months.
The Development Bank of North Macedonia, which has already started disbursing interest-free loans worth a total of 5.7 million euro ($6.23 million) to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), will provide additional 8 million euro in loans for these firms.
The Development Bank will also offer additional 50 million euro in low-interest loans through commercial banks.
(1 euro = 61.5328 denars)