The amount, equalling to 30,367 dinars (257 euros) was paid yesterday to all employees whose companies (12,037 of them) had been entitled to such assistance. The total number of beneficiaries, working mostly in tourist and rent-a-car agencies, restaurants and hotels, is 72,500 and they will be paid through special bank accounts. The action is to be continued until February 15 next year, after which the accounts will be closed.
All working in the above mentioned sectors will have the right to get a state-sponsored minimum wage, in case their company applied for the assistance and saw its claim approved. The sums will be paid by the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Communications.
The companies may lose the right to assistance for two reasons: if they dismiss more than 10% of staff between December 5 this year and January 31 next year (the temporary workers not entering the calculation), or use the acquired means for purposes other than the payment of wages. The fulfillment of obligations, stipulated by the agreement signed with the Government, will be monitored by the Ministry of Finance.
This is the sixth state-paid minimum wage since the beginning of the pandemic. Although the Government is often widely criticized for its neoliberal practices, this move has been approved by the public as one contributing to the economic recovery and satisfaction of workers’ basic needs. One of its results is that only a thousand workers lost their jobs, thus far.
Following the example of many EU states, Serbian government has spent 700 billion dinars (6 billion euros) combatting the effects of the COVID-19 crisis, which in a country such as ours is a considerable sum. Praising their policy, they insist on the fact that according to the IMF estimates Serbia will be the country with most rapid recovery in Europe. Still, it is not quite clear what will be the effect of government measures on public debt and how the deficit is to be covered.