April 29 (SeeNews) - Montenegro's government plans to reopen as of May 18 hotels and restaurants closed by the coronavirus restrictions introduced last month, prime minister Dusko Markovic said.
"On May 18 we will put into operation hotels, restaurants, cafes, clubs and we believe that in this way we are starting to bring back to life the whole country," Markovic said in a government statement on Tuesday.
The government is preparing a financial package to support investments in the tourism sector in cooperation with commercial banks and the Investment-Development Fund of Montenegro (IRF) and will provide 5 million euro ($5.4 million) to pay the salaries of employees in the sector for two months, Markovic said.
"We understand that there is a campaign for the opening of borders between Croatia, Austria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary. If that happens, Montenegro will seize this opportunity. Especially because we are really a safe country in terms of the epidemic," he noted
Last week, Markovic said the government also aims to ensure the restart of the operations of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as of May 4.
The government imposed a countrywide state of emergency on March 15 to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Montenegro has so far confirmed 321 COVID-19 cases and five deaths related to the virus. No new cases have been reported since April 25.
($ = 0.920426 euro)