Finance Minister Sinisa Mali said was the right time for the sale of Commercial Bank and that it was a great success of the economic policy being pursued.
83 percent of Commercial Bank’s shares were sold for 387 million euros to Nova Ljubljanska Banka.
Mali said when visiting TV Prva, that now is the best time to sell Commercial Bank because we have a stable economy, high growth rates, and added that the offer has been rejected.
Mali said that the state should be concerned with investing in infrastructure, not managing banks.
As he announced, the money from the sale of the bank will repay some expensive loans from the past, and the majority will be invested in new schools, kindergartens, new health care institutions and highways, which will accelerate the development of Serbia.
“It’s a great transaction, done the right way. The buyer is an EU bank with US investors, which will boost our credit rating”, Mali said.
He explained that the situation is “win, win, win” because it gets investors, the state comes in an opportunity to invest in important things for citizens and citizens get a new bank that will look to be more competitive and interest rates lower. Small added that the commitments to buy back the shares and sell the bank were contracted in 2006 and 2009, and wondered why options were contracted.
“Why did they sign such a contract”, Mali asked, adding that he would never sign such a contract, but it was the responsibility of the responsible Government to respect the contract.
If it were not for the virus corona effect this year would be the most successful in terms of economic growth and development, Mali said, noting that Serbia did not slow down Pristina’s fees and quotas for steel last year, the economy’s growth would be almost five percent.
The finance minister says that when discussing the effects that the Corona virus can have on Serbia’s economy, international interlocutors cite the need for car companies to have a safer supply of parts.
“This can also be a chance for Serbia if companies look for suppliers that are closer”, he said, adding that there is no better country than Serbia for safer supply.
He estimated that it was a chance for them to build their own factories here and be more secure in supply.
The construction of the Brose factory in Pancevo is coming in the next few days, and when it starts working in a year, the average salary will be 1,700 euros, and the factory Forver will be opened in Cacak – an investment worth 50 million euros.
“Every new factory, every new kilometer of highway shows that Serbia is developing rapidly – I’m optimistic”, Mali said.
He said that Serbia’s economy was the fastest growing in Europe in the last quarter of last year, with growth of over six percent.
“Public finances are completely stable, we have a budget surplus for the fourth consecutive year, we are by far the best and most desirable country for foreign investment”, Mali said.
The crown of all efforts was an average salary of 500 euros, he said, adding that it was a goal that was fulfilled but that the Serbian government wanted even better.
Speaking about the goal of making the average salary at the end of 2025 900 euros, the Minister of Finance said that it was absolutely possible and achievable.
“We now need to reach 70 percent growth in six years – that is fully achievable”, he said, adding that it is a vision.
Serbia expects hard work to reach this goal, because “nothing will fall from the sky”, the minister said, adding that investments must be attracted, highways built to invest in the education of children.
“President Aleksandar Vucic had a vision of 500 euros of average salary and nobody believed it, and we have achieved – now the vision is 900 euros”, Mali said.
He said that the growth of wages in the public sector is at the level of GDP growth, while that in the private sector wages are rising and higher, as an increase factor, he cited the increase in the minimum wage.
“In the labor market, there is a slowly but surely felt shortage of labor, so labor prices are rising more than normal”, he said.
Mali said that with the IMF delegation, who ended his visit to Serbia, the topic of talks on possible adjustments to the Swiss pension model was raised so that the average pension would reach 430 euros by the end of 2025, Dnevnik reports.
