GLIGOROV: Serbian government postpones unpopular moves

(Vladimir Gligorov)

Vladimir Gligorov, an associate of the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, has assessed that the Serbian government keeps postponing unpopular moves and that aside from adopting the 2013 budget and fiscal strategy, almost nothing has been done to change unfavorable business trends for the better.

- Economic policy almost exclusively relies on subventions, and this can hardly encourage investment in a country where both private and public consumption are on decline - Gligorov said in an interview with the economic monthly magazine Ekonometar.

He warned that the budget deficit in Serbia would most probably exceed four percent in 2013, and maybe even reach five percent of the gross domestic product.

- If you want to reduce fiscal deficit, it will be necessary to either additionally cut spending or increase taxes. When it comes to expenditures, if the reduction of social transfers at the moment when social tensions are growing is not an option, then the only thing left to do is to downsize staff in the public sector and recover lossmakers - said Gligorov.

His proposal is to commercialize most of the public sector in Serbia in order to avoid further losses, that is, to privatize everything that is not a natural monopoly.