The Croatian government will this year provide slightly over HRK 10 billion from the state budget for keeping jobs, which was one the first and most concrete state measures aimed at companies and employees, Vecernji List daily said on Wednesday.

Over 100,000 employers used subsidies for nearly 600,000 employees for one or more months. If it were not for them, tens of thousands of workers would have lost their jobs, and the fear of coronavirus infection would be compounded by the fear of losing their job.

In the past 30 or so years, Croatia has directed a lot of money towards subsidising shipyards, railways, agriculture, different public companies, often with a problematic outcome.

Like few previous subsidies, this year’s job-retention subsidies have had multiple positive effects: the number of layoffs was significantly reduced, companies received financial aid from the state when they needed it the most, and citizens got a needed dose of security.

After the COVID-19 virus spreading across Europe and the first quarantine, the Croatian government responded promptly and efficiently with two generous financial measures — a moratorium on tax payments and subsidies for those employed in companies whose revenues declined by more than 20%.

Most applications for subsidies were submitted for March and April, while later, when the measures were relaxed and the virus was spreading much more slowly, subsidy applications were mostly submitted by and approved for companies in the sectors at highest risk, Vecernji List said.