The Republic of Serbia has paid 890 million euro (USD 1.03 billion) of old debts in a single day, without the help of loans or refinancing, but using the generated savings – Serbian Finance Minister, Sinisa Mali told Tanjug.
“The Republic of Serbia paid USD 1.03 billion dollars of old debt in one day, and we did not do this from new loans and refinancing, but from the savings we made. This is another example of the responsible economic policy that we are implementing and our effort on settling those old expensive debts as soon as possible, thus stabilizing public finances and creating the basis for further development of the economy,” Mali said.
He said that, in the first nine months, the GDP growth stood to 4.5%, which, he says, is the biggest growth in the past ten years, while the unemployment rate is at an all-time low (11.3%), according to him.
The minister also points out that there have been 370,000 new jobs created in the past four years.
Mali pointed out that the budget surplus in the first nine months amounted to RSD 70 billion, that is, around EUR 600 million.
“The share of public debt (in GDP) is decreasing on a daily basis. We have had record-breaking foreign investments this year; the highest out of all countries in this part of Europe, and this shows how much Serbia is developing in the right direction and how stable our public finances are. By doing so, we are creating a foundation for further growth in employment, creation of new jobs, building infrastructure and improving the living standard of Serbian citizens,” Mali added.
He stated that the budget for 2019 was aimed at maintaining the level of economic growth and higher in infrastructure, as well as allowing businesses to develop further through various tax incentives.
“In the last few years, the priority was to provide as much work as possible for our citizens. In the next period, pensions and civil servant salaries will grow too so that the living standard of our citizens will also grow year-on-year”, Mali said.
Source; Serbian Monitor
