BiH Struggles To Revitalize Economy Amid Surging COVID-19 Cases

Muhammad Irfan Published January 21, 2022 | 02:44 PM

Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) struggled to mitigate economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the country reported record-high daily cases

SARAJEVO, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st Jan, 2022 ) :Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) struggled to mitigate economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the country reported record-high daily cases.

Almost 60 million convertible marks (34.8 million U.S. Dollars) were paid to 24,766 small craft shops and other independent businesses to save jobs, the Government of Federation of BiH (FBiH) said on Thursday, Each business received a grant proportional to the number of its registered employees, with only one condition that it has no registered tax debts, the government added.

"A total of 44,056 work places in FBiH have been supported this way in order to secure liquidity of businesses, and mitigate the impact of the pandemic," said FBiH's Minister of Development, Entrepreneurship and Crafts Amir ZukicShortly before the pandemic, the FBiH reported 534,483 employed citizens, but that number dropped to 507,607 by May 5, 2020, according to Faruk Hadzic, a BiH economic analyst.

On Thursday, the country logged 2,969 new cases and 39 deaths, a slight decrease after the numbers reached the pandemic peak two days earlier, namely 3,347 new cases and 47 deaths.