Croatian businesses able to apply for job retention grants for September

ZAGREB, Sept 8 (Hina) – The Croatian Employment Service (HZZ) has stated that businesses hit hard by the corona crisis can apply for job-keeping grants for September in the period from 15 September to 15 October.

The job retention scheme will be in place until the end of this year, according to a press release issued after the HZZ steering board’s meeting on Monday afternoon.

As for businesses that are particularly at risk, support in the amount of HRK 4,000 per employee per month will continue until December 31.

This refers to the transport of passengers, hospitality, travel agencies and recreation-related businesses, as well as cultural, business and sports events, if their drop in revenues exceeds 60%.

The aid in the amount of HRK 4,000 per employee will also be given to businesses and activities which will have to be closed down in line with decisions by local or national COVID-19 response teams, according to the announcement made by Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic last week.

Micro businesses that employ up to 10 workers and have a revenue drop for a claim period of at least 50% are entitled to the monthly job retention grant of 2,000 kuna per worker.

This scheme and similar measures for furloughed workers will cost by the end of the year around HRK 800 million and will be financed from the state budget, but some of the funding will be obtained from EU funds, both from the current financial perspective and from future loans to be granted under the SURE programme, as well as from future programmes such as the Recovery and Resilience Facility.

Plenkovic also announced that COVID-19 loans would continue to be issued through the HAMAG-BICRO agency and the Croatian Reconstruction and Development Bank.