FinMin Mali says Serbia stable despite global crisis

“Look at the situation in the world, the crisis has never been greater and our state is still stable, we are helping others and we still have money,” he told the pro-regime TV Pink.

According to the minister, the Serbian economy has been achieving excellent results despite the huge upsets at global level. “This is the third year of an economic crisis and we achieved growth of 4.3 percent in the first quarter of the year and expect growth of 3.7 percent in the second quarter… Our goal is an average monthly salary of 1,000 Euro and average pension of 500 Euro in the next four years,” he said and added that food reserves are sufficient for a year or two.

“The budget deficit in the first three months was 72 billion Dinars (1 Euro – 118 Dinars) which is much better than the planned 82 billion and we paid out large amounts in aid and repaid 1.5 billion Euro of old debts,” Mali said. He added that Serbia is not giving up on reforms.

The Finance Minister said that the recently imposed e-fiscalization, which met with opposition from market vendors and has caused problems in retail outlets, has produced excellent results adding that it is an important tool in combatting the gray economy.