April 9 (SeeNews) - The government of Bosnia's Serb Republic has allocated 53.1 million marka ($29.5 million/27.1 million euro) to the payment of minimum gross wages for April of 68,603 employees of companies unable to operate or working at part of capacity due to the coronavirus crisis.
The relief measure applies to all companies that have been barred from operating, or have suspended work due to objective reasons, or operate at lowered capacity but have not laid off workers, the entity government said in a statement on Wednesday.
On Monday, the Serb Republic government said it will take on payment of income tax and social contributions for March of some 40,000 workers from sectors of the economy most affected by the coronavirus crisis, for which it will spend between 17 and 19 million marka.
The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Bosnia rose to 857 as of mid-day on Thursday, including 35 fatalities, according to official data.
The Serb Republic is one of two autonomous entities that form Bosnia and Herzegovina. The other one is the Federation.
(1 euro = 1.95583 marka)