October 19 (SeeNews) - Bosnia's Federation government said it will provide 90 million marka ($54 million/46 million euro) to assist the sectors of the economy worst hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Federation government will allocate 30 million marka each to the tourism and the energy ministry, in order to support tourism companies as well as the export-oriented businesses, it said in a press release on Friday.
The transport sector will be supported with 20 million marka, while the sector of agriculture and food will be assisted with 10 million marka.
The financial support is accessible only to companies whose pre-tax turnover has decreased by at least 40% year-on-year in the period from April 1 to September 30, or companies whose exports are higher than 30% of last year's total revenue.
In order to be eligible for the financial assistance, the companies must have the same number of employees on December 31 that they had on September 30, except for the airport, railway and postal operators.
Beneficiaries from the sectors of industry, tourism, hospitality, transport, agriculture and food can receive up to 700,000 marka each under the support scheme.
The proceeds should be used for maintaining liquidity and competition, as well as for implementation of infrastructure projects by postal operators, and modernization of airports.
The government assistance can be only used for covering gross wage payments and expenses of doing business in the second half of 2020.
The Federation is one of two autonomous entities forming Bosnia and Herzegovina. The other one is the Serb Republic.
(1 euro = 1.95583 marka)