Finance Minister Dusan Vujovic says that overall fiscal consolidation has been achieved in the past three years, during the current arrangement with the IMF.
One of the results have been the savings made on interest rates for the country’s debt, Vujovic told a joint news conference in Belgrade on Tuesday.
During the press conference on the occasion of the eighth, final review of the three-year arrangement with precautionary measures with the IMF, Vujovic explained that now, for ever billion, Serbia saves 50 to 60 million euros because it pays lower interest rates, the Serbian government said on its website.
We do not record only the reduction of the share of debt in GDP from about 75% to 65%, but also the cost of that debt. The interest margins we are paying on the global financial markets have been significantly reduced from over 5.5%, four or five years ago, to 1.3% we pay today, he stressed.
The Minister said that this is a very tangible outcome of what we are doing now, and we also need to ensure the sustainability of these reforms, complete the underlying reforms, and complete reforms that will ensure a long-term stable growth of public revenues and efficient use of public expenditures.
Head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission James Roaf said that Serbia’s strong economic performance is continuing, adding that this is happening, although in the first quarter they were temporarily slowed down due to droughts and interruptions in the supply of electricity.
Activities remained strong, supported by strong growth in exports, increased spending and investment, he said, with the assessment that the conditions in the labour market are better, while the private sector opens new jobs.
According to him, the IMF forecast a real growth of 2% of Serbia’s gross domestic product for this year and 3.5% for 2018.
Source; B92
