The textile, leather and footwear industry in the Republika Srpska is in big trouble. Demand has decreased, but so has production. All this led to the dismissal of workers. The Government of RS is announcing help, but what kind – they didn’t want to reveal.
The consequences of the global economic crisis were mostly reflected in the textile, leather and footwear industry in the RS. In the first two months, production was reduced by around 14 percent. Close to 300 workers were laid off. Business owners say they don’t remember a situation this bad.
“If you look at the percentages, how much exports have decreased, and how much the number of employees has decreased, a large number of workers are still kept by businessmen in the company and they are not employed enough. This burden of responsibility is mainly borne by business entities. I have many years. I have been in this industry for a long time, we have never had such a difficult situation”, says Radovan Pazurević, director of Sanino Derventa.
It is not only this area that is at risk. The crisis in Europe has brought the domestic economy into an almost hopeless situation. The current market trends are not encouraging either – there are no signs of recovery.
“Priority measures at this moment must be measures that will preserve the economy of the RS in such difficult times: reducing the negative effects of the economic crisis, technological development, education and technological development of workers.” This will be something we will work on in the future,” says Zoran Škrebić, president of the Union of Employers of the RS.
They informed the authorities about the problems. The Government of RS promises help, but does not talk about specific measures.
“If we start the story of what it is specifically – these three branches currently have certain privileges when paying taxes and contributions, so this will cause certain problems. I really don’t want to do it for them and for the sake of the government, but I said that it will be to everyone’s satisfaction, both workers and owners, as well as the budget of the Government of the RS”, says Vojin Mitrović, Minister of Economy and Entrepreneurship of the RS and (SNSD).
Export-oriented companies are in the biggest problem, because orders from abroad have decreased significantly. We also remind you that in the RS there have already been closures of companies from the textile industry. An example is “Mila textile” from Prijedor, Federalna writes.
Photo: archive
