Ljajić announces preparations for new measures

Labor Minister Rasim Ljajic said that the government is expected to adopt its new work measures by the end of August. The measures aim to protect the rights of the workers and maintain the economic potential of the country in the time of the economic crisis. Ljajic announces preparations for new measures He said that these measures will include the payment of one-time social aid to workers who are not receiving wages and are the only ones with jobs in their families. The government believes that this package of measures will decrease the massive amount of strikes and enable workers to enjoy their rights in the times of crisis, Ljajic said. He added that the government will not be using increase taxation to fight the crisis. Ljajic said that the Finance Ministry’s fund was created to fight the crisis, and that it is being filled based on decisions for freezing and decreasing the wages of state administration workers. Some RSD 220mn falls into that fund each month, he said. Ljajic, however, did say that the financial crisis in Serbia could potentially spread to other sectors. “We have to do everything we can to stabilize the industry and economy and social life in the country and to stop the economic crisis, which started off as a financial one, from turning into a social and later a full societal crisis,” Ljajic said. He said that the new measures will enable companies that have the ability to work during the crisis to be able to keep their employees. According to the last data of the Statistics Bureau, industrial production in Serbia for the first six months of the year decrease by 17.4 percent compared to the first half of 2008. State Secretary for industry and privatization, Nebojsa Ciric, said that the situation in the Serbian industry has stabilized and that improvements can be expected in the second half of 2009. “The government’s program measures for overcoming the effects of the world economic crisis have come together after five months and have completely revived the industry and have given good results, which can be seen by the fact that the pressure which the industry felt from a lack of liquidity has been drastically decreased,” he said. Even though the government is announcing new measures which are expected to protect the economy and industry from further pressure, unions are announcing all new and even more intensive strikes for the fall as well. Ciric said that it has been estimated that the decrease of the gross domestic product in 2009 will be about 3.5 percent, which shows that the situation in Serbia is a lot better than it is in other European countries. Rasim Ljajic (FoNet archive)

Ljajić announces preparations for new measures

He said that these measures will include the payment of one-time social aid to workers who are not receiving wages and are the only ones with jobs in their families.

The government believes that this package of measures will decrease the massive amount of strikes and enable workers to enjoy their rights in the times of crisis, Ljajić said.

He added that the government will not be using increase taxation to fight the crisis.

Ljajić said that the Finance Ministry’s fund was created to fight the crisis, and that it is being filled based on decisions for freezing and decreasing the wages of state administration workers.

Some RSD 220mn falls into that fund each month, he said.

Ljajić, however, did say that the financial crisis in Serbia could potentially spread to other sectors.

“We have to do everything we can to stabilize the industry and economy and social life in the country and to stop the economic crisis, which started off as a financial one, from turning into a social and later a full societal crisis,” Ljajić said.

He said that the new measures will enable companies that have the ability to work during the crisis to be able to keep their employees.

According to the last data of the Statistics Bureau, industrial production in Serbia for the first six months of the year decrease by 17.4 percent compared to the first half of 2008.

State Secretary for industry and privatization, Nebojša Ćirić, said that the situation in the Serbian industry has stabilized and that improvements can be expected in the second half of 2009.

“The government’s program measures for overcoming the effects of the world economic crisis have come together after five months and have completely revived the industry and have given good results, which can be seen by the fact that the pressure which the industry felt from a lack of liquidity has been drastically decreased,” he said.

Even though the government is announcing new measures which are expected to protect the economy and industry from further pressure, unions are announcing all new and even more intensive strikes for the fall as well.

Ćirić said that it has been estimated that the decrease of the gross domestic product in 2009 will be about 3.5 percent, which shows that the situation in Serbia is a lot better than it is in other European countries.