Serbian Statistics Office chief denies claims of data fixing

CEO Miladin Kovacevic said that opposition Party of Freedom and Justice (SSP) official Dusan Nikezic was wrong to say that the data was being fixed “whenever the authorities need that”. He said that Nikezic was denigrating a state institution, adding that “fixing data is practically impossible to do because it can easily be checked”.

Nikezic told N1 on Tuesday that the RZS has been adjusting the data regularly for years, especially in terms of GDP data. “I am afraid that the GDP is lower than the RZS has been saying and that means that the share of the public debt in the GDP is higher than presented officially,” he said.

Kovacevic added that Nikezic’s claims are “filthy fantasies” by someone who is used to fixing and manipulating.