Today, the Minister of Finance in the Government of the Republic of Serbia, Sinisa Mali, participated in the closing ceremony of the 15th Annual and 8th Election Assembly of NALED, entitled “Agenda 2025: Vision for the Future”.
Mali spoke on the topic “From the angle of the Government of Serbia: Cooperation for better business conditions” and pointed out that constant communication with the economy is the right way for the country’s progress and development.
He explained that the new Law on Fiscalization is of immeasurable importance for the economy, but also the Law on Electronic Invoices, which will start to be applied on January 1, 2022.
“The request of businessmen and NALED when I became the Minister of Finance was to speed up the VAT refund. Through electronic invoices, we will ensure that this happens during the day, which will greatly contribute to the transparency and competitiveness of our economy,” said Mali.
He also stated that Serbia is committed to the continuation of structural reforms, and reminded that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) confirmed a new advisory arrangement with Serbia last Friday, which additionally contributes to the credibility of our country.
“If you look at the priorities, first of all, it is planned to continue the restructuring of public companies, the green agenda, the continuation of the reform of the Tax Administration, increasing the competitiveness of our economy by reducing tax levies…,” he said.
He stated that the new tax incentives for young people, initiated by the President of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, will contribute to the reduction of unemployment.
“Last year, the unemployment rate was nine percent, and and the yeea before that it was 10.4 percent. The unemployment rate is going down from year to year. Also, the youth unemployment rate seven or eight years ago was 50 percent, while now it is around 20 percent. It is still high and that is why we are going with the exemption of the annual income tax for those younger than 40, as well as with tax incentives in the sense of exemption from paying taxes and contributions for the first employment for a period of three years. Incentives also apply to those who work in the field of research and development, since we have identified this as an area that encourages and leads the growth of our economy,” said Mali, adding that he continues with reforms and incentives for youth employment, in order to they were enabled to realize their dreams in Serbia.
Mali explained that there are great temptations before the global economy, and stated that cooperation with NALED and businessmen is of immeasurable importance.
“We will work with you in NALED and with businessmen to make Serbia go further, to develop, to increase salaries and pensions, to build new kilometers of highways, new wastewater treatment plants, kilometers of water supply and sewerage networks, everything that will turn Serbia into a better place to live,” said Mali.
The Minister emphasized that the special focus is on the environement, ie fulfilling the green agenda.
“For the first time in Serbia, we will issue green bonds and enter the international capital market, the London Stock Exchange. We will ask for money from investors, convince them of the projects we have, in order to further accelerate the development of that area. Now we have record amounts in the budget for the environment, ie projects that are dedicated to environmental protection,” said Mali.
He pointed out that Serbia managed to deal with the consequences of the corona virus pandemic in the right way and provide a solid foundation for further economic growth.
“When it comes to saving the economy, I think that we came out in the right way and at the right time with aid packages of around 8 billion euros, in order to support our citizens and the economy. Thanks to that, Serbia avoided the blackest scenarios, which existed in more developed countries than ours. Last year, our GDP fell by one percent, which was one of the smallest falls in Europe. On the other hand, we saved production capacities, maintained almost full employment, as well as macroeconomic stability, because the share of public debt in GDP is less than 60 percent,” he said.
Mali said that Serbia entered 2021 prepared, that vaccination and support to citizens and the economy continued strongly.
“In the first quarter, we expected a decline in GDP of 1.3 percent, and we had a growth of 1.7 percent. Industrial production in April this year, compared to the same month last year, was higher by 33.9 percent, and compared to the average from last year, higher by 5.8 percent. Public debt is still under control and will remain below the level of 60 percent, as prescribed by Maastricht,” he stated.
He mentioned that the growth rate of Serbia will be above 6% this year.
“With that growth rate, we will certainly be one of the three fastest growing economies, despite the corona virus pandemic. It is not easy to achieve that result. When we talk about the growth rate, it is now the biggest challenge for all economies in the world, because it is important to find sources of growth despite the pandemic and stagnation of economies, even though interest rates are never lower,” he explained, Alo reports.
