Following the start of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)'s 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia, Krasić announced that earnings and pensions would be equalized due to wartime conditions, specifically saying that the gap between the highest and lowest salaries would be reduced to permit a more equal provision of basic necessities. He also said that the government would seek to avoid the use of food coupons. In early May 1999, he announced that Serbia was facing a shortage of gasoline and oil derivatives due to NATO bombs having destroyed the country's oil-refining facilities; he added that the country was also facing a shortage of cigarettes due to the Niš Tobacco Industry only working a few hours a day, when the air-raid sirens were not in force. This notwithstanding, he announced on May 19 that market supplies of agricultural foodstuffs and related products were generally satisfactory given the conditions of war.