The Prime Minister of Serbia, Ana Brnabić, stated today that the goals of the budget for 2022 are the continuation of the accelerated growth of the economy, the construction of large infrastructure projects and the improvement of the living standard of the citizens.
“The proposed budget for next year is developmental and predicts a growth of gross domestic product of 4.5 percent. It will further improve the quality of life, increase the wealth of all of us and the whole country and influence us to be economically stronger and more stable,” Brnabic said in the Serbian Parliament while presenting the Budget Bill for 2022.
She stated that the planned increase is the minimum wage by 9.4 percent, to about 300 euros, the reduction of the contribution rate for the PIO fund by 0.5 percent and the increase of the non-taxable part of the salary from 130 to 150 euros.
“Salaries in the public sector will be increased by an average of 7.4 percent, and pensions by 5.5 percent,” Brnabic said, adding that pensioners will be paid 170 euros each in February.
Budget revenues, as she said, are planned in the amount of 12.8 million euros, which is an increase of 1.9 percent in relation to this year’s budget, while expenditures of 14.5 million euros were reduced by 4.23 percent.
“The budget deficit will amount to three percent of GDP, and at the end of this year it will be 4.9 percent. The plan is to reduce the deficit to one percent in 2024,” Brnabic said.
According to her, next year, the public debt will be reduced to 53.8 percent of GDP, which amounted to 56.5 percent at the end of October this year, and will reach 58.2 percent of GDP by the end of the year.
She pointed out that a record budget for capital investment, which is 7.3 percent of GDP, is planned.
As she explained, that money will be used to finance investments in road infrastructure, health care institutions and environmental protection.
The Prime Minister reminded that in 2020 and 2021, through three aid packages, the state paid more than eight billion euros to the economy and citizens, which ensured the growth of employment and GDP, making Serbia one of the most successful European countries.
“This year, Serbia’s GDP growth will be higher than 7%, so the cumulative growth in the years of the pandemic will be around 10%,” Brnabic said, adding that 60,000 new jobs had been created in the previous year.
The average salaries in Serbia, as she said, will be over 600 euros at the end of this year, which makes the goal of 900 euros in 2025 achievable, and the average pensions to be between 430 and 440 euros.
“Foreign direct investments in Serbia for 10 months of this year amounted to 63 percent more than in the same period last year,” Brnabic said.
The amendments to the Law on Corporate Income Tax, the Law on Personal Income Tax, the Law on Taxes on the Use, Possession and Carrying of Goods, the Law on Property Taxes and the Law on Contributions for Compulsory Social Insurance are also on the parliamentary agenda.
The deputies will also discuss the Draft Law on Budget Inspection, amendments to the Law on Expropriation and the Customs Law.
Also on the agenda are the Draft Law on the Final Account of the Budget of Serbia for 2020 and amendments to the Law on Employees in Autonomous Provinces and Local Self-Government Units and the Law on Agriculture and Rural Development.
The Bill on Regulation of Serbia’s Obligations to the International Monetary Fund Based on the Use of General Allocation of Special Drawing Rights and the Bill on Ratification of the Agreement between the German Development Bank KfW and the Republic of Serbia on the Loan for the Integrated Solid Waste Management Phase I will also be discussed.
The deputies will also decide on the proposal for dismissal of the members of the National Council for Culture and the appointment of new members, which was submitted by the Assembly Committee for Culture and Information.
Deputies asked about the environment, minority rights and the media
At the beginning of the session, members of the Serbian Parliament asked questions to the authorities, and the topics were environment, minority rights and criticism of the work of the media.
Justice and Reconciliation Party MP Jahja Fehratović stated that Novi Pazar has been one of the most polluted cities in Europe in recent days and demanded an urgent reaction from the Ministry of Environmental Protection.
The MP asked the ministry to check whether the pellet producers use the prescribed filters because, as she stated, “thick smoke can be seen from the pellets descending on the city.”
The MP of the group “United Valley – SDA Sandzak”, Shaip Kamberi, asked the Prime Minister when the conditions will be created for national minorities to freely use their national symbols, because that is forbidden in Serbia, if the symbols are identical to the symbols of other countries.
As an example, Kamberi stated that hooligans recently removed the Albanian flag, which was set in Belgrade as part of the protocol during the official visit of Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, and assessed that “hooligans may be perpetrators, but they are the product of a general stereotype towards Albanians.”
SPS MP Djordje Milicevic reiterated criticism of the civil sector, which, as he said, “does not advertise when hatred is directed at the Serbian people” and does not treat in the same way those who want to destroy the mural of Ratko Mladic and those who destroy the board Acif Effendi.
“As an MP, do I have the right to ask a question that is based on the truth, and if someone doesn’t like it, I don’t become a target. After the last questions, a chase was organized against me and I received insults and threats on social networks,” said Milicevic.
Instead of asking questions, SNS MP Aleksandar Markovic criticized the Nova S portal and, as he said, “Djilas and Sholak’s media”.
Markovic said that they were “campaigning against Serbia and its national interests, as well as against President Vucic”, and cited as an example the texts that “revenge will come from Germany when Viola’s party takes German diplomacy”, explaining that the portal means Viola von Cramon who, as the MP says, is an “Albanian lobbyist,” Novi Magazin reports.
