Serbia has taken measures that have contributed to helping small and medium enterprises – Djordjevic points out.
Solidarity, cooperation, trust, mutual support, as well as timely decision-making by the governments of the countries, will prove to be the most important factor for the “most painless” way out of the health, economic and social crisis caused by the Covid-19 virus, it was said at today’s online conference crisis management in a time of pandemic.
Minister of Labor, Employment, Veterans’ Affairs and Social Affairs Zoran Djordjevic said that the crisis management in the midst of the epidemic in Serbia was reflected through two angles, the first by President Aleksandar Vucic, and the second by the Serbian government.
– The president himself, as a leader, stood in front of everyone and made important decisions that proved to be a prevention and an important factor to save lives and save our economy. Even earlier investment in our health care has enabled health care to be ready and save people’s lives – said Djordjevic.
The Minister also states that ten days before the introduction of the state of emergency in the entire country, his department introduced a “state of emergency” in social protection institutions, where visits were prohibited, adding that there were problems, but also that he believed that the state had done everything to mitigate the changes the pandemic brings.
– The labor market was the first to come under attack. There were indications that a certain number of people would be fired, but the numbers also show that from February 27 to May 15, we ended up with 6,988 more employees after the state of emergency – Djordjevic pointed out.
He also underlined that the data shows that the country managed to stop the consequences of the huge scale on the economy, emphasizing that the adoption of the right measures during the state of emergency can give favorable results.
The Minister also stated that there are currently 13,550 more established economic entities than before the pandemic, as well as that they managed to maintain infrastructure projects, and to mitigate the “blow” to the health and social protection sector.
– Serbia has taken measures that have contributed to helping small and medium enterprises the most, 1,600,055 employees received state aid, in the first three months it was the minimum wage, and in the two months after that, it was 60 percent of wages and they are in a way, they received an incentive – he stated.
According to Djordjevic, the Serbian government will not stop even after the epidemic and wants to show the citizens “that it was not just cosmetic help – but something that was well analyzed.”
– We will follow what is happening in the economy, on the labor market and in accordance with that, we will continue to invest. Serbia has so far invested 5.8 billion euros, which is 12 percent of our total GDP on an annual level – the minister said.
The Association of Countries and their intersectoral cooperation are among the most important items for faster recovery from the effects of the epidemic, agreed representatives of Northern Macedonia, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia, who said at the conference that the capacities of countries in the region are large and can be key to overcoming the crisis.
The purpose of the international online conference was to express the exchange of opinions and experiences of the countries in the region regarding the solution of the problems caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which primarily affected the economic sphere.
The participants also agreed that the region lacks more integration, but also that solidarity in the region in the midst of the epidemic has been shown much more than it has been done by the European Union itself, Srbija Danas reports.
