March 23 (SeeNews) - Romania has asked the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for assistance in developing and implementing a post-coronavirus economic development strategy, economy minister Virgil Popescu said over the weekend.
"Together with finance minister Florin Citu, we had an audio conference with the EBRD on Saturday and asked them for support to quickly move forth with a post-coronaviurs strategy for economic development because I want to be prepared when this crisis is over, and to forsee the directions in which the Romanian economy must go after this crisis," Popescu said on Sunday, as broadcast by local TV station Realitatea Plus.
Popescu also said that together with the finance minister they are working on a second package of economic measures related to the coronavirus pandemic.
Last week, Romania's government decided to raise the ceiling for credit guarantees for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) affected by the coronavirus crisis by 5 billion lei ($1.13 million/1.03 million euro) and to cover 75% of the salary of employees sent into technical unemployment by affected companies.
The government also plans to allocate almost 2% of GDP to support sectors affected by the coronavirus epidemic.
As of Sunday, Romania has confirmed 433 cases of the coronavirus infection and three deaths.
(1 euro=4.8444 lei)