Fiscal adjustment in Serbia and the Balkan countries will take between five and ten years to complete, says economist Vladimir Gligorov.
This professor at the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies added this was the reason these countries cannot expect high rates of economic growth, which will move in the range between two and 2.5 percent over the next ten years.
Speaking at the 15th Serbian Economic Summit, which started in Belgrade on Monday, Gligorov said that the export capacities of Serbia and the Balkans were weak, at around 30 percent of GDP, while they should be at between 60 and 70 percent.
The situation is like this in Serbia because the country has been in recession for five years now, Gligorov said, adding that when it came to European integration, it was vital that that the country had a functioning market economy with the government playing a smaller role in the economy.
According to Gligorov, Serbia’s private sector is not competitive and the problem lies in the fact that the employment rate in this sector is low, and a lot needs to be done to improve the situation here.
The two-day economic summit is held under the auspices of the Serbian Finance Ministry, the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and the Foreign Investors Council.
Source; B92
