April 8 (SeeNews) - Turkey's finance minister Berat Albayrak said the country will provide additional financial aid to citizens during the coronavirus crisis, including salary support for employees forced to take unpaid leave, local media reported.
The country also plans to provide cash support for some 2.3 million more families with low incomes, the minister said on Twitter, as reported by Sabah Daily on Tuesday.
Turkey provided cash aid of 1,000 lira ($147.5/135.7 euro) to about 2.1 million families last week, social minister Zehra Zumrut Selcuk was quoted as saying.
Turkey has postponed value-added tax (VAT) and insurance premium payments for companies affected by the outbreak. In addition, the country will pay 60% of the salaries, as well as the health insurance of the staff working in the affected firms for a period of three months.
The number of patients who have been diagnosed with the COVID-19 disease in Turkey has surpassed 34,000 as of Tuesday, with the death toll rising to 725.
(1 euro = 7.36585 lira)