In January-August of the current year, 1,117 unemployed individuals received subsidies to start their own businesses, which amounts to 62.3% of the annual target, as reported to BELTA correspondent by the Employment Policy Department of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection.
Subsidies for starting one's own business were granted to 1,117 unemployed persons in January-August of the current year (62.3% of the annual target), as informed to a BELTA correspondent by the Employment Policy Department of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection.
Support for business initiatives is one of the key areas of the population employment promotion policy. Among the main types of entrepreneurial activities organised by the unemployed are the provision of various services (transport, hairdressing, construction and finishing works, tailoring and repair of clothing, vehicle maintenance and repair), as well as trade and agricultural production.
Furthermore, in addition to financial support, future entrepreneurs receive consultative, methodological, and legal assistance, and are trained in the legal and financial fundamentals of entrepreneurship. Every third person receiving financial support from the state employment service resides in small towns and rural settlements.
A subsidy is provided to an unemployed person in the amount of 11 times the subsistence minimum budget per capita (SMB). When unemployed individuals organise entrepreneurial activities in small towns and settlements with a persistently high unemployment rate, as well as in rural settlements, the subsidy is provided in the amount of 15 SMB. When unemployed individuals organise entrepreneurial activities related to the implementation of scientific research and development results, the subsidy amount reaches 20 times the SMB.
The subprogramme "Employment Promotion" of the State Programme on Social Protection and Employment Promotion for 2016-2020 envisages providing assistance in organising entrepreneurial activities for at least 9.2 thousand unemployed individuals within the current five-year period, including 1,792 this year. In 2011-2015, almost 12 thousand unemployed individuals benefited from state support for self-employment.