Yesterday in Bitola was a black day for the Bitola economy and announcement that this crisis will have far-reaching economic consequences if not responded quickly and on time, MP Antonio Milososki warned at Friday’s press conference, following yesterday’s layoffs of 6,000 employees at the Kromberg & Schubert company from the Pelagonia region.

For comparison I’ll just tell you what it means for Bitola, firing 6,000 employees is kind of like firing 7,000 employees in the Tetovo region, or firing 6,000 employees in Bitola is kind of like having 34,000 layoffs in Skopje, the biggest city in the state. That is why we believe that the situation is alarming and that the government should not wait for layoffs and business crashes and then react, but should react in time to prevent such additional layoffs and closures of businesses, Milososki said.

He added that the serious crisis of the automotive industry in Europe is beginning to affect the foreign investments operating in Macedonia, and also the domestic small, medium and large enterprises, which are an integral part of the economy or are related to foreign investments.

This means that tens of thousands of Macedonians are currently threatened by layoffs if there is no timely and effective plan to deal with this economic crisis that is as dangerous as the coronavirus crisis. The government must understand the seriousness of this situation and react immediately without delay, he said.

In addition to the plan to defeat the coronavirus, the government must urgently rescue the economy from total collapse, Milososki adds, because citizens’ health and the health of the economy are the two basic preconditions for stability for a state and must be worked urgently and in parallel on both areas.