The government is extending the 60/40 measure until September 2021, the information press service said. In addition, pensioners will continue to receive BGN 50 on their pensions in January. For this purpose, BGN 106 million will be voted during the next cabinet meeting.
„We are continuing the 60/40 measure until September 2021, so that there is no speculation about how long it will be in force.“, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov announced at a meeting with members of the government.
During the meeting, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov stressed that all other measures to support business during the pandemic continue to work.
„All these measures are to maintain people’s jobs, lives and standards. That is why the vaccine is important to us, fortunately every day we see a lasting tendency for the number of cured patients to be almost twice as many as the number of infected people.“, added the Prime Minister.
The Minister of Labor and Social Policy Denitsa Sacheva reports that the measures 60-40 and 80-20 will continue to operate next year, and the measure for closed businesses „Save me“ will be transformed from January 1 into 75% of the insurance income of employees and they will receive more funds. BGN 50 million are provided for the new design of „Save me„. The measure 80-20 will be financed via European funds, and for this purpose the Operational Program „Human Resources Development“ has reorganized resources in the amount of BGN 40 million.
„For the measure 60-40 next year we have BGN 600 million, which will be enough to continue it almost until September, so employers and employees must be calm that there will be support from the state.“, Sacheva said firmly.
Minister Sacheva summarized the state’s support so far under the three socio-economic measures.
„So far, under the measure 60-40, BGN 627 million have been paid, 250,000 jobs have been preserved. Under the measure 80-20 with a supplement of BGN 250 for hotels, restaurants, tourism and transport, BGN 23 million have been paid, a total of 24,858 jobs have been preserved.”, Sacheva pointed out.
Regarding the measure „Keep me“, which is currently known as „BGN 24 per day“ and which is to be transformed next year, the Minister of Labor and Social Policy said that for December 4,653 applications were received from employers to compensate 22,839 workers and employees.
„Payments have already started to be made, and will be paid during the days between Christmas and New Year.„, Sacheva said.
With regard to targeted assistance for families with children currently studying at a distance, 40,000 applications have been submitted and 23,520 families have been approved.
However, the government has been widely criticized for the measures it is taking. One of them is that part of the funds is from the operational programs, while at the same time there is financial resources available in the state budget. In this way, money is taken that can be used for business projects. In addition, as regards the pensioners’ allowance, it will run until March, just when the next parliamentary elections take place. Therefore, the opposition and experts expressed the opinion that an attempt is being made to buy votes with the money of all Bulgarian taxpayers.
The Minister of Economy Lachezar Borisov also reported during the meeting today.
„By granting over BGN 40 million we will support small and medium-sized enterprises, and in December 95 contracts were concluded under the procedure“ Improvement of production capacity in small and medium-sized enterprises.“
He informed that under the voucher scheme for providing services for information and communication technologies, 450 vouchers worth a total of nearly BGN 8 million have been issued so far.
„Absolutely all 25 contracts for financing innovation projects worth BGN 7 million have been signed through the National Innovation Fund.“, the economy minister said.
„What we have done by restructuring the budget of the Operational Program“ Innovation and Competitiveness „is to provide the full resource for all 1703 project proposals.“, added Lachezar Borisov.
The Minister also informed that by the end of the day new conditions for application under the procedure for business support, which is carried out together with the National Revenue Agency, will be published.
The Minister of Health Kostadin Angelov stated that the payment of the medical establishments, which maintain a capacity of 50% and over 50% of the usability of their beds for patients with infectious diseases and COVID-19, is currently starting.
„In the coming days, by the end of the year, BGN 50 million will be paid to more than 50 medical institutions in the country. These are mainly the large university hospitals, the structural district hospitals, some municipal hospitals and private hospitals, which maintain a capacity of 50% and over 50% usability of beds for the treatment of patients with COVID-19.”, said the Minister of Health.
At the same time, however, there is still a problem with beds for patients with coronavirus infection. Employment is quite high and the pressure on the health system remains.
