The fiscal situation in Serbia is deteriorating, “after last year’s budget deficit was in line with estimates”, the Fiscal Council said on Monday.
Preliminary data for the first two months of this year supports the Fiscal Council’s belief that this year’s deficit will shoot above the planned 3.6 percent of GDP.
It is early to accurately assess by how much the deficit could exceed the forecast, but the Council expects the 2013 deficit to amount to at least 4.5 percent of GDP.
In order to avoid a public debt crisis, the deficit must be reduced considerably in 2014, but there is still no plan in place, warned the Council.
In the first two months of this year, Serbia recorded an alarmingly high budget deficit of around RSD 35 billion, according to the Council.
This was caused by a drop in public revenue, VAT in particular, while spending was mostly under control.
If a similar trend continues throughout the year, the budget deficit at the end of December will exceed RSD 200 billion, as opposed to the expected RSD 122 billion.
The Fiscal Council warned the government needs to undertake numerous reforms before the middle of the year.
Source B92