SKOPJE, July 29 (Xinhua) -- The government of North Macedonia is taking three sets of anti-crisis measures worth 500 million euros (around 588 million U.S. dollars) in support of the citizens and the country's economy to overcome the negative effects of COVID-19 pandemic, Minister of Finance Nina Angelovska said on Wednesday.
Via a Facebook post, Angelovska said that so far North Macedonia's citizens and companies have received about 140 million euros in state support, of which 40 million euros were provided to the citizens and 100 million euros to companies.
According to her, the financial support for the citizens was done through domestic payment cards, domestic tourism vouchers, unemployment benefits, including support to the categories of independent artists and athletes.
With regard to companies, the government so far has provided the financial support of 14,500 Macedonian Denar (around 275 U.S. dollars) per person to over 130,000 employees in over 19,500 companies.
Financial support for the companies also includes interest-free loans via the Development Bank for 1,331 companies.
The measures taken so far, according to the minister, helped in overcoming the crisis and will provide support during economic recovery.
Angelovska underlined that the funds provided support to the citizens, protected jobs and supported liquidity of the economy, thus boosting economic activities. The minister added that other financial support measures are underway.
On Wednesday, the Health Ministry in North Macedonia reported 188 new coronavirus cases over the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 10,503, with 5,931 recoveries and 476 fatalities. (1 euro = 1.17 U.S. dollars) Enditem
