Budget of Serbia larger by EUR 180 million – CIF project shows considerable savings through rationalization

The budget of Serbia will be larger by EUR 180 million compared to 2014, as concluded following the first independent monitoring of reform processes and the authorities’ work, carried out by the Center for Investments and Finance (CIF).

Through the project of monitoring and analyzing the reforms of the public administration and notifying the public on the results and the conclusions, the CIF has come up with the following result: the number of employees in the Public Administration has been reduced by more than 16,500, compared to late 2014, the structural and permanent savings in the current year amount to around EUR 25 million and the reduction in the number of employees has mostly been achieved through retirements. The CIF has come up with these results by tracking the first phase of the rationalization and through an expert analysis of the data, predominantly in 2016.

Reductions on the local level exceed 6,000 and, on the central level, they amount to around 10,500. Looking at sectors separately, the numbers are as follows: 5,100 in healthcare, 1,850 in internal affairs, 1,600 in education, 500 in the judiciary, 300 in finance, 600 in all the others.

Considering that the first phase has been completed successfully, this is an excellent and necessary basis for further reforms, such as reorganization, which needs start immediately if permanent systemic changes and budget savings are to be made and if the sustainability of the project is to be secured.

– This project is certainly among the more important steps towards the transparency of the reform process and one of the pillars of the rationalization. The results of our analyses point to a trend of considerable savings and an excellent basis for continued reforms. We aim to educate the public through our portal at www.pracenjereformi.info – stated Veljko Kukoleca, director general of the CIF.

The project’s new feature is the portal at www.pracenjereformi.info for tracking the results of the rationalization, available to everyone at all times and supporting the transparency of the process, the CIF reported.

Centar za investicije i finansije CIF Beograd

Center for Investments and Finance

CIF

Veljko Kukoleca

budget of Serbia

public administration reform

rationalization