Mali: Eurostat confirms that we have lowest GDP decline in Europe, finances remain stable

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Minister of Finance Sinisa Mali said that the latest Eurostat data published today unequivocally confirms that Serbia's economic policy is correct, because it has had the lowest drop in GDP in Europe in the third quarter of this year.

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In a written statement sent to the media, Mali said that the decline in Serbia's GDP in the third quarter compared to last year is -1.3 percent, and that, as he pointed out, this is an excellent result, bearing in mind that the decline in the Eurozone is -4.4 percent. Individually, he added, all other countries in Europe had a much bigger decline.

"This is officially confirmed by the European bureau of statistics in its report today. Our result is excellent and shows how resilient our economy has become, and that we have managed to find the right measure in these challenging times. I am fully convinced that we will be the best at the end of this year as well," said Mali.

He assesses that Serbia is managing to withstand the great economic consequences of the crisis, which is why, he added, in addition to the increase in pensions and the minimum wage starting on January 1, an increase in salaries in the public sector is also planned.

He pointed out that this will be an increase of five percent for health workers, while other employees in the public sector will first get an increase of 3.5 percent, and then from April 1 - their salaries, too, will be five percent higher in total. He says that the Draft Law on the Budget for 2021 will be considered at a session of the Government of Serbia by the end of next week.

In addition to the salary increase from January 1, the minister says that medical workers will receive one-time assistance of 10,000 dinars by the end of next week. According to Mali, about 12 million euros have been set aside for that.

"At the same time, our public finances are still stable and we will not endanger macroeconomic stability," Mali explained.

The minister also reminded of the package of economic measures that has been implemented, and which helped preserve the Serbian economy, for which a total of around 690 billion dinars, i.e. 12.5 percent of GDP was allocated this year. He stated that these measures prevented the decline in economic activity and growth of unemployment, preserving production capacities of the economy and the standard of living, while liquidity has been secured.

Mali pointed out that there will be bigger than ever investments in capital projects and reiterated that the government remains committed to the "Serbia 2025" project, which should in five years lead to an average salary of around 900 and an average pension of more than 430 euros.

(Telegraf Biznis)