April 7 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's government is preparing changes to its job retention programme in order to further align to the needs of businesses affected by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, finance minister Vladislav Goranov said.
For employers who are unable to spend any resources of their own or have suspended 100% of their operations, the government will probably have to seek support solutions after the end of the COVID-19 crisis, Goranov told the media, according to an audio file published by public radio BNR on Monday.
The job retention programme popularly known as '60-40 scheme' will be updated in the following days, Goranov said.
According to the scheme, in force from March 31, the state will finance 60% of the insurable income of employees remaining on payroll during the crisis if the employer contributes the remaining 40%. Prime minister Boyko Borissov said last month that the government will allocate around 1 billion levs ($555 million/511 million euro) to paying out its share of this employment support measure.
The scheme is intended for companies that are fully or partially operational during the countrywide state of emergency imposed in Bulgaria on March 13 due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the finance minister noted.
According to Goranov, the government has all the resources necessary to withstand the crisis.
Last week, the non-governmental Bulgarian Industrial Association (BIA) said that just 8% of Bulgarian companies plan to apply for state aid under the 60-40 measure. Employers who do not intend to apply for state aid plan other cost-saving measures regarding their personnel - 42% say they will lay off part of their employees, while 5% say they will dismiss their entire staff.
As of April 2, 59 companies have filed applications for state support under the 60-40 measure, labour minister Denitsa Sacheva said last week.
As of Tuesday, there are 565 confirmed COVID-19 cased in Bulgaria, including 22 deaths from the disease as well as 42 recoveries. At the end of last week, the parliament approved a government proposal to extend the state of emergency by a month, until May 13.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)