RCC chief Bregu says huge cost of pandemic will continue to grow

“The crisis clearly affected all economies, workers, companies and governments…. The huge cost of the months without economic activity will grow,” an RCC press release quoted her as saying.

“Isolation has brought an inevitable rise in unemployment in the entire region,” she said adding that the official figures confirm that in all six Western Balkan economies. She warned that the labor market is divided with people who can work from home in less danger of losing their jobs than others who have to go to work and have had their salaries cut or even lost their jobs.  

Bregu cited International Labor Organization figures which showed that more than one in six young people lost their jobs during the pandemic and that the region will lose 11.6 percent of labor hours because of the pandemic in the second quarter.  

The RCC Secretary General said that the authorities in the region implemented fast and brave measures public health and economic measures to limit the spread of the coronavirus and prevent the loss of jobs but added that the entire region will have to consider measures to restore the conditions needed for the economy to get back to normal.