The countries of the Western Balkans, including Serbia, expect a return to economic growth this year, after the biggest drop in the world due to the pandemic, according to a World Bank report, and the director of the bank’s Belgrade office, Stephen Ndegwa, told RTS that the region’s 4.4 percent recovery is realistic.
“This year, the indicators were better than expected, so that the reduction of the economy in the region was smaller than in the European Union, and when that is taken into account, Serbia has performed extremely well,” Ndegwa pointed out.
He added that Serbia had a drop of only one percent and that a growth of five percent is expected in 2022, which, as he assessed, is excellent.
Ndegwa explained that several things will affect the big growth.
“First of all, you start from a very low base. Having in mind that there was a reduction at the global level, as well as in the region, but more important are the actions taken by the Government in the fight against Covid and helping the economy,” Ndegwa said.
He added that it is important that reforms have been implemented in the past six or seven years, which have created excellent foundations for good growth, and that, when there is a recovery in the rest of the world, it will be significant.
Speaking about the reforms, Ndegwa stated that they are a permanent job, and that some were interrupted due to the pandemic, but that it should be seen that the Government is committed to reforms.
“In the coming period, in terms of state-owned companies, we want to return to the talks we had on the agenda of new growth, to increase the responsibility of the Government and investments, and also to reduce the debt that stood well in 2019. “t was interrupted by Covid, but now we see that it is something we will have to return to in order to fundamentally renew the strength of the Serbian economy,” Stephen Ndegwa emphasized.
When it comes to the budget deficit of Serbia, which is higher than last year, Ndegwa assessed that they are not worried about that for two reasons.
“First of all, it is temporary. Having in mind the reaction to the emergency situation, we have seen that all over the world, and we must support the economies, and Serbia has shown itself well in that. Also, we are not worried, because the Government is committed to returning to the path it previously took and which created some of the redundancies we have seen in the last few years, so we believe that there is reason for cautious optimism,” Ndegwa said.
Speaking about the investments of the World Bank, Ndegwa stated that they are looking forward to signing two loan agreements in May.
“One is about modernizing the railway, and the other is a loan for development policies that will support the recovery,” Ndegwa said.
He emphasized that one of the biggest challenges in the coming period will be to curb the pandemic.
“Serbia has shown itself quite well with health measures, with vaccination. That will have to continue and become aggressive, and we support that. Next, we need to continue to support the economy. Also, it should be ensured that companies and jobs are preserved,” Ndegwa pointed out.
At the end of the conversation, he emphasized that it is necessary to implement economic reforms in the medium term, but also that we should focus on green growth and sustainable development, in which it is necessary to include as many people as possible, Danas reports.
