The United States set aside the most money in absolute terms to save the economy. But when aid packages are measured against the size of the national economy, Japan is first in the world and Slovenia third. A comparative list of 166 countries shows that Serbia is third in the region according to this criterion, behind Slovenia and Croatia. At the bottom of the regional list are Montenegro and Northern Macedonia.
The latest, comparative report on how much countries in the world have invested in saving their economies in order to try to stop the economic collapse caused by the current pandemic, was published by the research team of Columbia University in New York.
An analysis of aid packages in 166 countries as of May 24 this year shows that the United States has allocated the most money in absolute terms, as much as 2.7 trillion dollars, which is about 13% of their total gross domestic product (GDP).
Slovenia far ahead of the USA
However, when aid packages are measured against the size of the national economy, the list looks significantly different. Thus, Japan is in the first place, with 21.1% of GDP, while the United States is only in the 10th place.
In second place is Luxembourg with 20.7% of GDP, and ahead of the United States are the following countries: Slovenia (19.7%), Belgium (18.3%), Austria (15.6%), Finland 14.1%), Iran (14%), and Sweden and the Netherlands, which allocated the same amount – 13.5% of gross domestic product.
Qatar and Singapore are on a par with the United States, ie both countries have provided aid packages that make up 13% of their gross domestic product.
Serbia is third in the region
In our region, Slovenia is far ahead of other countries with the amount of aid packages that make up 19.7% of Slovenia’s GDP. In second place is Croatia, with more than twice the amount (9.3%), and in third place is Serbia with funds amounting to 6.5% of gross domestic product.
It is followed by Bosnia and Herzegovina (3.6%), Albania (2.8%) and Kosovo (2.5%), which are treated as an independent state on this list. At the back are Montenegro (1.7%) and Northern Macedonia with a separate aid package amounting to 1.2% of Macedonia’s gross domestic product, which is more than 16 times less than Slovenian allocations, BiF reports.
