It is planned to start paying downtime benefits already this week

Kariņš explained that tomorrow the government will hear information about the progress of the downtime program.

“The first costs of this program are planned for this week,” the prime minister said, stressing that there may be suggestions tomorrow on how to expand the range of sectors affected by the crisis.

Minister of Welfare Ramona Petraviča (KPV LV) said that the ranks of the unemployed are increasing every day. In order to retain employees and jobs, it is necessary for entrepreneurs to be able to offer downtime benefits as soon as possible.

The Prime Minister emphasized that active work is being done on issues related to economic and business support in the conditions of the Covid-19 pandemic, discussing which sectors could be included in the scope of support. At the same time, Kariņš pointed out that the range of specially supported sectors affected by the Covid-19 pandemic could be expanded.

“Tomorrow morning, the Ministry of Economics may propose another sector,” the politician said, noting that he did not yet have any specific information about it.

As reported, the Minister of Finance Jānis Reirs (JV) previously announced that the state support for mitigating the consequences of the crisis caused by the new coronavirus disease Covid-19 has reached more than two billion euros.

The government-backed proposal for downtime benefits for employees of companies most affected by the crisis will cost the state between € 60 million and € 200 million if a decision is made to expand the range of sectors supported.

In turn, the Latvian Free Trade Union Confederation (LBAS) has urged the government to increase the duration of unemployment benefit payments to 12 months, including by increasing its amount.

LBAS believes that these are minimum requirements on behalf of all employees, because in 2019, by amending the law, the duration of the unemployment benefit was reduced, as well as the amount of the benefit, forecasting savings of 12.1 million euros. According to the organization, such savings are not significant compared to the government’s readiness to allocate two billion euros to stabilize the situation.

As reported, the Saeima decided that Covid-19 will pay 75% of employees’ salaries to the most affected sectors, if necessary, setting a maximum cost ceiling of 700 euros.

Last week, in an interview with the Latvian Television program “Rīta Panorāma”, the head of the SEA Evita Simsone admitted that at the moment when a state of emergency has been declared in Latvia and the SEA is not serving customers, they will be expected after April 14, when the dismissed could be offered agency services.