Portugese PM announces plan to ease economic blow from COVID-19

LISBON - Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa announced on Thursday a plan to mitigate the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"COVID-19 causes profound disease in the economy and social life. The first objective was to control the economy without losing control of the pandemic, and we were successful," he said in a statement. "Now we have been experiencing the most abrupt economic downturn since the great recession of 1929."

Costa stated that "an income stabilization supplement will be paid in June. It is a single payment measure that aims to compensate for wage loss" with amounts that reach up to 350 euros ($396) per person, in addition to a family allowance in September.

The prime minister added that the government will earmark a fund of 30 million euros for workers in the cultural sector and concert halls.

He pledged to take "active employment policies to combat unemployment and reabsorb workers who have lost their jobs," especially young people and those with physical disabilities.

The stabilization plan will run until the end of 2020 and will serve as the basis for the supplementary budget that the government will deliver to Parliament next week.

Portugal recorded eight more COVID-19 deaths and 331 new cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the totals to 1,445 fatalities and 33,592 infections, according to health authorities.