Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said today that our country has entered a period of dynamic growth, and expressed his conviction that Serbia will have better and better results thanks to the government’s reform moves that were implemented last year.
Vucic said at the 9th annual conference and promotion of the Grey Book of the National Alliance for Local Economic Development (NALED) that Serbia will not be in recession until 2020, which can be determined on the basis of available data and trends.
He stressed that key problems of the Serbian economy, which the government will be solving in the future, are a lack of entrepreneurial spirit, state-protected companies and the grey economy.
Ten companies have remained that are under state protection, which have been pulling out millions of euros in subsidies from the state budget, the Prime Minister reminded and added that the most problematic are RTB Bor mining and metallurgical complex and Public Enterprise for Underground Coal Exploitation “Resavica”.
The state now gives these companies €4 million annually, but it should be reduced to €2 million in the near future, which is a big step forward for our country, Vucic said.
Along with privatisation, it is important to continue the restructuring of public enterprises, adopt business plans for the national electric power company EPS that will be approved by the World Bank and the IMF, and restructure the Srbijagas company, he said.
Only when Serbia climbs to the 45th from the current 59th position on the World Bank’s Doing Business list will the government be satisfied, he noted.
Usually it is impossible that we record surplus in January, but we have managed to have a €250 million surplus at the moment, although this is one of the most difficult months of the year, he noted.
According to Vucic, such a result is not achieved due to the large number of dividends collected from public companies, as dividends have not been collected yet from Telekom Srbija, Elektroprivreda Srbije and Posta Srbije.
The Prime Minister expressed gratitude to NALED on its approach to the problems Serbia is faced with, as well as on criticism and praise for the moves by the government of Serbia.
Thank you for a different approach in solving the problems in Serbia because there are few who can actually measure concretely, accurately, precisely and exactly as NALED does. You have had the confidence of the government, you have had my trust, and you did a great job, Vucic said.
NALED today presented the eighth edition of the Grey Book and granted awards to representatives of national and local governments who gave the largest contribution to reforms in Serbia in 2015.
Source; Serbian Governement
