IMF: Serbia in recession through 2015, to recover in 2016

According to latest projections by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), 2015 will be another recession year for Serbia, with a real GDP growth of a negative -0.5 percent, and recovery, with a positive, 1.5 percent growth, should come in 2016

In its World Economic Outlook published in April 2015, the IMF said elevated public debt and high fiscal deficits highlighted the need for fiscal consolidation, including via spending restraint and restructuring of key state-owned enterprises.

Growth in southeastern Europe is projected to improve in 2015–16, driven by rebuilding of flood-damaged areas in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia, and by employment gains elsewhere, the IMF said.

Lower oil prices are expected to provide a lift to the region, offsetting the effects of weak euro area growth, recession in Russia, and still-elevated corporate debt, according to the IMF.

The “Emerging and Developing Europe” includes five EU member states - Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Poland and Romania - and Serbia and Turkey.

(Telegraf.co.uk/ Tanjug)