A lot of Bosnians are trying to return home from Austria as they lost their jobs as a result of the coronavirus crisis, Bosnia’s Ambassador in Austria, Kemal Kozaric, told N1 on Wednesday, arguing that the current economic crisis is worse than the one in 2008.

Two busses carrying about 90 people have left Vienna for Bosnia and another 120 Bosnians have expressed a wish to return to their country, he said.

“Those people have lost their jobs, they had temporary jobs and it is their constitutional right to return to their country,” he explained.

A lot of them are Bosnian students who worked temporary jobs and lost them as the government introduced a series of measures to contain the coronavirus which included closing shops.

According to Kozaric, the new economic crisis that came as a result of the coronavirus pandemic is worse than the one in 2008.

He pointed out that one way people could help their country at this time is to opt for locally-produced products.

“Bosnia and Herzegovina imports water, meat, grain – and I think that all of this can be produced in Bosnia,” he said, advocating for subsidies for agriculture in Bosnia.

“Every individual needs to contribute to the economy by opting for domestic products,” he said.