The Croatian Chamber of Commerce proposes measures to help the economy of the quake-hit Sisak-Moslavina County, including a special tax treatment of businesses, a temporary moratorium on taxes on donations, unfreezing of businesses' accounts and extending job-keeping measures to include all businesses.

About 1,250 businesses, with about 8,800 workers, are operating in Sisak-Moslavina County, nearly all of them have suffered damage in the magnitude 6.2 earthquake that struck the area on 29 December, and many of them have been forced to suspend their operations as a result of the earthquake, the HGK said.

“Some of the manufacturing plants are unusable for further production, and premises of small businesses have been totally destroyed,” the chamber (HGK) president Luka Burilovic said.

“At this point it is too early to estimate the total damage because structural engineers are still at the scene and there are tremors every day, Initial information indicates that about 3,500 family homes and an unknown number of multi-residential buildings and cultural landmarks have been damaged. Bearing in mind that the damage done by the earthquake in Zagreb (in March 2020) is estimated at nearly HRK 90 billion, it can be assumed that the damage in the Banija region will be estimated in billions as well, which will require quick and prudent assistance,” Burilovic said on Thursday.

In its recommendations to the government, the HGK said that the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the HAMAG-BICRO agency for SMEs, innovations and investments, and other financial institutions should provide special credit lines for the reconstruction of manufacturing plants in the earthquake-affected area.