Serbia has settled with the IMF and exited the austerity regime
Serbia's 2020 budget, adopted by the country's parliament, will mark the end of the austerity regime introduced in 2015.
This was stated by Serbian Finance Minister Sinisa Mali, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“Tough but bold austerity measures are behind us, and the 2020 budget means higher public sector wages and higher pensions,” Mali was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Ana Brnabic's government has already increased public sector wages. Serbia will also allocate a total of RSD 198,9 billion for capital investments, mainly in infrastructure.
The budget is based on a forecast for GDP growth of 4% in 2020, up from about 3,5% this year. It calls for a deficit of 20,2 billion Serbian dinars ($189,64 million), or 0,3% of gross domestic product, below the target.
The austerity measures were introduced by Serbia as part of a 1,2 billion euro ($220,44 million) loan deal with the IMF that ended last year.
Serbia's economy showed positive indicators that year. The country was ranked ninth in the world in the latest Doing Business list published by the World Bank in the issuing of construction permits category.
Fitch previously upgraded Serbia's credit rating from 'BB' to 'BB+' with a stable outlook for further improvement as Serbia's overall public debt is on a sustained downward trend and will fall from 54,5% in 2018 to 46,2% of GDP in 2021 year.
Rating agency Moody's has raised its outlook on Serbia's rating to positive from stable. It became the country with the fastest decline in its debt-to-GDP ratio in five years (by 21 percentage points) compared to countries with similar credit ratings.
The government's economic success can explain the high ratings of President Aleksandar Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party. According to a poll, she is supported by 53% of the population. Elections to the Serbian Parliament will be held in the spring of 2020.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.