The fiscal results up to and including 2016 were good and the budget deficit was significantly reduced in the second year of fiscal consolidation.
Fiscal Council President Pavle Petrovic said this on Monday.
“Our assessment of that was positive because the public debt has been turned around to a downward trajectory,” he said at a meeting of the Serbian National Assembly’s Committee on Finance, Budget and Spending Control, Tanjug reported.
“We had a meeting with the International Monetary Fund delegation and we hope that by September or October, we will have a harmonized version of amendments to the Budget System Law,” Petrovic said.
According to current regulations, the public debt’s share in GDP is limited to 45 percent, Beta reported, while the Fiscal Council believes it should be “over 45 but under 50 percent – because of the state’s restitution costs.”
Petrovic said tha further reform of public administration was necessary along with that of public enterprises, primarily the Electric Power Industry of Serbia (EPS) and other state-owned companies making losses, such as RTB Bor, PKB and Galenika, because there was a danger of the costs being shouldered by the budget.
The Committee on Finance reviewed reports on the work of the Fiscal Council and the Commission for the Protection of Rights in Public Procurement Procedures for 2016.
