TIRANA – Albanian PM Edi Rama has announced that there will be an expansion of the financial package to provide help to the businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
In a post on his FB account he revealed that he had on Wednesday a video conference with banking representatives discussing what he called ‘the financial package of war’. One of the main issues discussed with the Governor of the Central Bank, Gent Sejko was the use of the instrument of the sovereign guarantee, local media reported.
It was discussed with banks the war financial package and the question of putting in motion the instrument of the sovereign guarantee for the salaries of employees who do not go to work and the expansion of the package during April, said Rama in his FB post.
In the meantime in an interview with a local TV on Tuesday evening, the state minister in charge of reconstruction, Arben Ahmetaj explained how the employees of the small business or the self-employed would apply to receive the ‘war salary’.
According to him, there is a government decision on online payment of this group of employees who were instructed how to apply online to start to get the salary starting from Wednesday. A total amount of 60,422 persons will profit from this decision.
Regarding those who work informally or the unemployed confined at home due to the coronavirus pandemic the minister said that they would be treated with food articles in the frame of a humanitarian operation.
Some 77,877 families live on food aid and 21,625 other families get medical aid, according to him. “The state reserve has 20 million dollars to buy food for the packages to be distributed,” said Ahmetaj./argumentum.al
