Representatives of the state, economists and businessmen discuss the possibility of Serbia taking advantage of the fourth industrial revolution at the Kopaonik Business Forum. Governor Jorgovanka Tabakovic and Economy Minister Sinisa Mali were among the first to address.
Sinisa Mali said the projections are that by 2025, our country’s GDP will amount to 73 billion euros, while in the next decade it will even double.
According to him, such a result will be led by a stable macroeconomic policy, public finances, investments of 14 billion euros under the program “Serbia 2025” in infrastructure, health care, education, digitalization, as well as creating a favorable situation for the arrival of foreign investors.
Mali pointed out that 2019 was economically one of the most successful for Serbia, adding that it was important for two reasons – the completion of fiscal consolidation measures and high growth rates.
The finance minister said last year’s economic growth rate was 4.2 percent in Serbia, citing as much as 6.1 percent in the last quarter, despite the introduction of quotas on steel exports and Pristina taxes.
Talking about the fiscal results, Mali said that Serbia has a budget surplus for the fourth year, and added that it had planned a budget deficit for the last two months, but that it was again at zero and that the Serbian budget was plus 160 million euros, because better tax collection goes and costs are kept under control.
The minister recalled that the public sector wage increased by eight to 15 percent last year and said that the average wage in December exceeded the figure of 500 euros and amounted to 509 euros.
He also announced that the minimum wage will continue to grow year after year.
Talking about public debt, Mali said that there is an absolutely responsible policy in this field, pointing out that public debt to GDP is below 50 percent today, while in 2013, 2014 and 2015, public debt accounted for 75 percent of GDP.
He recalled that the unemployment rate has been falling and that it was the lowest since last year, since 1996, adding that it was 10.4 percent, while in the fourth quarter of last year it was 9.7 percent.
Mali also said that the number of jobs is increasing, pointing out that 200,000 new jobs have been created in the last four years.
He also referred to the inflow of foreign direct investment and recalled that the Financial Times indicated that in 2019 Serbia attracted the most foreign direct investment in the world in terms of its size and that they amounted to 3.8 billion euros gross under 105 projects, RTS reports.
