July 24 (SeeNews) - Serbia's government plans to pay 60% of two monthly salaries to employees of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) to support the economic recovery after the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, finance minister Sinisa Mali has said.
"In the next two months, a total of 60% of the minimum wage will be paid to employees, and taxes and contributions on wages will be postponed for one month," Mali said in a statement on Thursday.
The first payment will be made by August 10, while the second will be done in September, Mali said. "That is about 18,000 dinars ($178/153 euro) per employee for one month, or about 155 euro."
The additional support brings the total financial package that the Serbian government provided to cushion the adverse impact of the COVID-19 crisis to 5.7 billion euro ($6.6 billion), or 12.2% of the gross domestic product (GDP) for 2020, Mali said.
"The state will set aside 36 billion dinars for 60% of the amount of the two minimum wages, while the postponement of taxes and contributions on wages for one month will cost us around 30 billion dinars," he added.
In May, Serbia's government started the payment of three minimum monthly salaries to employees of MSMEs. The government has also deferred the payment of taxes and contributions worth 29.5 billion dinars combined, which will be paid in 24 instalments as of 2021.
(1 euro = 117.595 dinars)