BRNABIC: New measures for quicker growth of GDP from mid-August

In the next two weeks, the Government of Serbia will present short-term measures meant to accelerate the growth of the gross domestic product, Prime Minister Ana Brnabic stated today.

Talking to the press in Podgorica, Brnabic said that a session of the government had been held the previous day with the slower-than-expected growth of GDP as the main topic.

– Since the state of the budget is excellent, featuring a very good fiscal discipline and a surplus, we are able to invest in short-term measures which will stimulate the growth and are also good in terms of capital investments. We will consider the projects which are prepared at the moment. We will invest more than we thought we would invest in 2017 – Brnabic said.

Prime Minister said that she had discussed the growth of the GDP with the Fiscal Council, the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia and Serbian economists dealing with the subject objectively and emphasized that the citizens didn't need to worry.

– What's important is that all our economic indicators are very good. At this moment, our industrial production will certainly exceed 6% of the growth, possibly even reaching 8%. Our exports are growing at an increasing pace, standing between 11 and 12%, and the reduction of the unemployment rate is currently at around 14% – Brnabic said.

The fact that the growth of the GDP is slower than expected is primarily a consequence of, as she explained, bad weather conditions. A severe winter, followed by a drop in the water surface levels, have had a very negative impact on the thermal sector.

– There were big droughts in the second quarter, considerably impacting the production of electricity in hydro power plants, which dropped by as much as 40-42%, but these are weather conditions, which the government cannot do anything about – Brnabic said.

According to her, at the moment, it seems that the growth of the GDP would amount to 2.5% and the government is dealing with the issue on a daily basis.

Vlada Republike Srbije

Republički zavod za statistiku

Fiskalni savet Republike Srbije

Government of Serbia

Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia

Fiscal Council

Ana Brnabic

gross domestic product of Serbia

GDP of Serbia

growth of GDP

growth of gross domestic product of Serbia

industrial production

export from Serbia

unemployment in Serbia