Serbia has reached pre-crisis levels of economic activity before others

At the opening of the 28th Kopaonik Business Forum, NBS Governor Jorgovanka Tabakovic said that Serbia had reached the pre-crisis level of economic activity before many world economies – already in the first quarter of this year, one quarter earlier than we expected.

In a video address to the forum participants, Tabakovic said that such growth, in addition to excellent trends in construction, was also contributed by the good growth of industry and merchandise exports.

“All of these are confirmations that, with everything we have done and done, we have preserved the foundations for sustainable growth in the coming period,” she pointed out.

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The results in Serbia very quickly confirmed that the state’s measures in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic were both adequate and timely.

“In many areas of the economy, Serbia already exceeded the pre-crisis level during the third quarter of last year – in industry and retail trade in August, and in merchandise exports in September. The industry has been recovering faster than we expected since May, with growth of 0.4 percent in 2020,” pointed out Tabakovic.

In Serbia, as she said, the labor market has been preserved, with employment growth and wage growth, which in March this year increased formal employment by more than 72,000 people.

“If we had not immediately adopted a number of measures, and then continued to react with additional measures, the decline in economic activity in 2020 would have been at least six percent, while the recovery and return of gross domestic product to pre-crisis level would have lasted several years, lost jobs and disturbing stability. The price of not reacting would be too high,” Tabakovic said.

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She said that the pandemic did not change the fact that stability is a key precondition for sustainable growth and for all topics from the agenda of the Kopaonik Business Forum, from infrastructure and investments to the digital economy and creative industry.

She emphasized that Serbia entered this crisis much more prepared and resilient than it was in 2008, RTS reports.

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