Minister Mali: "At the time of the biggest global crisis, ours is the fastest growing economy in Europe"

Photo: Tanjug/Ministry of Finance

"The reforms that have been carried out in Serbia since 2014 have led to the fact that, at the time of the biggest global crisis, Serbia is the fastest growing economy in Europe," Minister of Finance Sinisa Mali said today, responding to criticism voiced by some members of the Serbian National Assembly.

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He added that this year, for the first time, Serbia will have GDP of more than 60 billion euros, while 10 years ago it was 33.7 billion.

"The figures are exact and they say that our public debt in GDP is now 54 percent, and we inherited a debt of 79 percent. The unemployment rate was 25.9 percent, and now it is 8.9 percent," Mali said.

The Ministry of Finance announced today that Serbia's public debt at the end of October amounted to 32.41 billion euros, which is exactly 53.7 percent of the country's GDP.

The ministry added that the October public debt and its share in GDP remained at the same level as the previous month. At the end of December 2021, public debt was 30.13 billion euros (56.5% of GDP).

Sinisa Mali further touched on the topic of Serbia's credit rating, saying that it is "only one level below investment grade," and that foreign exchange and gold reserves are at a record level.

"In December of this year, we will have the average salary of 720 euros, and in a year we expect it to be 820 euros," Mali stressed and added that after the November pensions increase of 9 percent, another will follow next year - 12.1 percent.

(Telegraf Biznis)