Economic growth at the end of 2016 probably 2.7%

Minister of Finance Dusan Vujovic stated on Monday, October 17, that Serbia had managed to achieve an economic growth in the period of fiscal consolidation. The growth amounts to 2.6% at the moment, and it is expected that it will be 2.7% at the end of the year.

– Next year, we expect a growth of 3%, and a year later a growth of 3.5% - Vujovic said at the Serbian Economic Forum in Belgrade.

He said that such results had been accomplished through a combination of saving and increasing investments.

– This trend needs to be maintained for two to three years, and then we will see what the limitations to the further growth are – Vujovic added.

He said that he would have been called an “incorrigible optimist” if he had said two years before that there would be a budget surplus and a growth of 2.7%.

Vujovic said that the main sources of the economic growth in the years to come should be investments and an increase in export.

– Statistical data show that the agriculture is dropping in the GDP and that we need to work on increasing its competitiveness – the minister said and added that, for example, organic food, raspberries and other goods needed to be exported at the right price, to the right place and at the right time.

According to him, subsidies need to be redefined and regional investments need to be drawn in the period ahead.

– This is where the second phase of the fiscal consolidation would end and where the third one would start, along with creating new jobs – Vujovic said.

He emphasized that Serbia didn't sufficiently utilize its capacities in the sector of services.

– There are lots of educated people here, but they aren't specialized in providing services. A Harvard professor, for example, gets a million euros a day to come and make a diagnosis of what the country needs in order to step up the growth or solve some other problem – Vujovic said.

Ministarstvo finansija Republike Srbije

Dusan Vujovic

economic growth of Serbia in 2016

Economic Forum Belgrade 2016

fiscal consolidation