State Secretary of the Ministry of Finance Gojko Stanivukovic participated in today’s online meeting on the competitiveness prospects of the Western Balkans for the period 2019-2021, organized by the OECD SEE, where he spoke about the state of GDP, public debt and the new fiscalization system.
The meeting was dedicated to the discussion on the findings and recommendations for the Republic of Serbia, for which Stanivukovic thanked his colleagues from the OECD for the required publication on the competitiveness of policies in Southeast Europe for 2021.
“I would like to mention that this is an important document for Serbia, which sets the desired goals for achieving the level of competitiveness at the level of EU member states and OECD countries, and offers insight into where our country is currently compared to other participants from the Western Balkans and finally identifies which areas need to be improved,” explained Stanivukovic, emphasizing the importance of the document in the preparation of national strategic and political documents, especially the Economic Reform Program.
He also pointed out that the lessons from the previous assessment proved to be valuable for better shaping of strategic documents.
“I am glad to have seen and heard that Serbia, during 2021, managed to improve its results in 13 areas, which puts us in the best-ranked economy in the Western Balkans, especially when it comes to investment policy and promotion, approaches to financing, on trade policy, state-owned enterprises, transport, as well as the dimensions of science, technology and innovation.”
He also drew attention to the measures that Serbia has taken in the fight against the pandemic.
“Serbia has set aside more than eight billion euros for three aid packages, within the framework of economic measures, with the goal of supporting the economy and citizens. This is the largest aid allocated in the territory of Southeast Europe. The three packages of measures together make up as much as 17.4 percent of GDP, and are expected to further contribute to GDP growth, with the expectation of stabilization at around 4 percent in the medium term,” he said, believing that our country has managed to maintain trust of both citizens and the economy, and that the packages have fulfilled their purpose, contributing to the rapid recovery of the most important sectors in the economy.
Speaking about GDP, he pointed out that the decline in 2020 was only 0.9 percent, which is one of the best results in Europe, while the public debt is firmly below the level of 60 percent of GDP.
“In the first quarter of the current year, the growth was 1.8 percent, in the second as much as 13.7 percent, and the growth in the first half of the year was 7.6 percent, which is a much better result than expected,” Stanivukovic reminded, adding “It is a logical consequence that the growth projection increases to 7 percent for the whole year, but that he believes that GDP growth will be between 7 and 7.5 percent, which will once again be one of the best results in Europe.”
He considers the packages of support to the economy and citizens during the pandemic to be responsible for these results, and points out that the public debt of Serbia is stable and is currently at the level of 55.2 percent, which is still far from the level prescribed by Maastricht.
He also mentioned that the projected budget deficit for 2021 is 6.9 percent, but due to better collection and quick economic recovery, it is expected to remain below 5 percent.
“The draft budget for 2022 envisages a deficit of 3 percent and even higher allocations for capital investments, in order to further support growth and employment. These funds are mostly intended for the continuation of works on infrastructure projects, but also for the realization of new ones, especially when it comes to roads or railway infrastructure, green agenda, digital investments and health,” he said, emphasizing that Serbia is the only non-EU country offered green bonds on the international capital market in September this year.
The Secretary also mentioned that the new system of fiscalization is of great importance, which should provide more efficient control and better collection of taxes, as well as a more successful fight against the gray economy, Danas reports.
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