Petrovic: We do not think 2015 will see economic growth

Petrovic said for Radio television of Serbia (RTS) on Sunday that there were still no indicators to suggest that economic growth could occur in 2015.

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- The just published information that the GDP in the first quarter fell 1.9 percent year-on-year indicates, when extrapolated to the full year, a negative growth - he said.

- Even if we witness some improvements in the course of the year, I do not expect it to be a positive growth, but rather stagnation - he said.

Petrovic said that he believed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission’s visit to Belgrade and their first review of the three-year stand-by arrangement would result in a positive assessment of Serbia’s fiscal deficit, adding that talks would focus on enterprises in the restructuring procedure, privatization and public sector reforms.

Petrovic said that the reduction of the budget deficit to RSD 21 billion, against the projected 71 billion, in the first four months of 2015, had resulted primarily from cuts in public sector salaries and pensions.

(Telegraf.co.uk/ Tanjug)