Economic activities from previous years have enabled the domestic economy to be more resilient, resourceful and vital in relation to others to the consequences of the Covid pandemic, said State Secretary in the Ministry of Economy Dragan Stevanovic.
He assessed that this should be confirmed in the next period by official statistics, and added that domestic and foreign analyzes confirm that Serbia, in the past year, was the most successful, ie number one, in Europe, when it comes to economic growth.
Stevanovic said for the First Program of Radio Belgrade that this created the conditions for our economy, at the beginning of 2021, to provide a good starting position for the realization of expectations and projections – both domestic and foreign, which relate to economic growth, economic development and GDP growth.
That, he states, will enable us to be the first in Europe, but also for our economy to return to the positions it had before, which it should have in the current year.
Stevanovic says that the Ministry of Economy did not suspend the realization of any investment subsidized project, that those that were announced and agreed continued, and adds that due to external events, the realization of some projects was slightly prolonged.
He pointed out that all the money projected to encourage investments was almost spent last year, and added that more than 125 million euros were set aside for that purpose in 2021.
We will continue to subsidize the sector of small, micro and medium enterprises and entrepreneurs through loans, Stevanovic pointed out.
A part of 16.6 million euros will be used for the equipment program which is implemented in cooperation with commercial banks, a development program will be realized through the Development Fund, as well as “start-up” loans.
Stevanovic pointed out that the novelty is that the Ministry of Economy will give strong support to women’s entrepreneurship.
He emphasizes the cooperation with the European Investment Bank (EIB) as especially important for the economy, within which the Serbian economy will have 200 million euros at its disposal for small and medium enterprises.
Half will be earmarked for investment under very favorable conditions, and the other for liquidity and working capital, he explained.
Stevanovic announced the continuation of privatization and added that the partners from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) are nearing the end of drafting the documentation of the State Property Policy Strategy, which will put the privatization of state-owned companies under one roof and define the policy for resolving that sector.
This will be done primarily through the introduction of corporate governance models for public companies, companies from the privatization portfolio and other strategically important companies.
This will be another impetus for positive fiscal trends, the revenue side of the budget will be further improved, the company’s balance sheets will be improved, and the dividends belonging to the state will be higher, Stevanovic said, Dnevnik reports.
