Economist: This wave will be tougher and everything can still be

Economist Vaidas Navickas at the fair Delphi Day assured that this wave could be more severe for the economy.

“So far, we see that the number of cases per day is now double that of all cases in the spring. So, I think this wave will be tougher and everything can continue to be. Perhaps it will be more difficult for the economy than the First. Of course, it is not the quarantine that closes the economy, but the virus. The more serious the problem with the virus, the stricter the quarantine will be. We are already talking about even stricter measures, because the existing ones do not work much ”, Says V. Navickas.

The situation of the hotel is almost catastrophic.

When asked what the situation is in the hotel sector, the president of the Association of Hotels and Restaurants Evalda Šiškauskienė assured that the government should focus on individual segments, as they have suffered in different ways.

“The mood is not good, but after hearing the news about the vaccine, a little more light went on. However, I would strongly suggest that the government purge individual areas of business, as they have certainly suffered very differently. Many are outraged that I am only talking about hotels and restaurants, supposedly only bad for them, but I am talking about my sector, I know it better. For example, business hotels are in a catastrophic state.

You are well aware that fourteen new hotels have been introduced in the major cities in recent years, some of which were even open a month or two ago. For them, the situation is extremely difficult. In practice, there are about 30 percent. loans for hotels closed since March and there is no real aid, except deferred taxes and downtime. This segment is not getting help anyway, and now the heating season has started, so a large hotel goes “negative” every day.

How much will it cost employees to get the minimum, or how much will it cost a company that really wants to contribute to wages and retain employees … There really is a very urgent need here. Another segment is restaurants. In other places, like Latvia, they are not closed, but we are seeing a drop in turnover. Of course, to say that it was very bad in summer would be a sin, it really wasn’t bad, but in autumn the situation changed drastically and that situation will be blacker ”, says E. Šiškauskienė.

According to the woman, the most important thing now would be to increase the amount of subsidies, increase the dead time line and apply rent subsidies.

Part of the business is going through a very difficult time

The Deputy Minister of Social Security and Labor, Eglė Radišauskienė, agrees that the situation is complicated. Attempts are now being made to adjust some of the measures to the activities that have suffered the most, but this is a subject of considerable debate.

“It just came to our attention then. We see this according to the data from the State Labor Inspectorate, the number of stops has already increased, which means that part of the business is going through this quite hard period. We see the same in the applications submitted by the Employment Service for allowances during downtime and so-called allowances after downtime.

This is probably one of those helpful measures that was very timely, apparently due to the debate and its size. We see that people also benefit from sickness benefits for childcare. This means that the measures that the government has proposed, when people cannot work remotely or when they are not paid for downtime, if they are published, they are really part of it ”, says the interlocutor.

We won’t save some business

When the economist asked him if the support mechanism used by the government was adequate, the interviewee assured that some requirements to receive support were too strict.

“First, we must define the goals we are trying to achieve. It seems to me that we are doing more or less well, because we are trying to help people whose incomes have fallen, and we are also trying to prevent companies from going bankrupt, so that there is no mass unemployment. The question is whether the requirements are not too strict and are they that strict.

There are businesses in the same hospitality and restaurant sector that have different profiles, such as business hotels or resorts, so with such stringent requirements, we may simply not save some businesses. There really is money, you have to keep in mind that the situation is completely different from 2008-2009. There is a lack of courage and willingness to help ”, he assured.