The Finance Committee adopted the proposed rebalance for 2024

The FINANCE COMMITTEE of the Serbian Parliament accepted tonight the proposed rebalance for this year in principle and will propose to the parliament to adopt amendments to the Budget Law.

The Minister of Finance, Siniša Mali, said this evening, in response to the opposition’s criticisms related to the expenses related to the Expo and the construction of the national stadium, that the Expo manifestation is a development opportunity for Serbia, and that the construction of the National Stadium represents a new source of growth, with all the manifestations and the events that will take place there.

Mali also noticed that there was no comment on the income during the meeting and that this shows that they are projected very cautiously and that in the end it is a pleasant surprise.

– I think that the position of the Fiscal Council and the International Monetary Fund and everyone else is very clear when it comes to income. And none of you from the opposition commented on the revenues, which is good, because you know yourself that we very cautiously estimate and project the revenues, we are very conservative and that is why we are pleasantly surprised in the end, and this precisely enables us to control costs on the other hand – said Mali.

He stated that this is met with a positive response when it comes to investors, which leads to the fact that Serbia is one step away from an investment rating, and answered the opposition MPs that in their time Serbia did not even have a credit rating.

– Regarding expenditures, one of you said that this is the beginning of the end of Serbian public finances. I would like you to show me on the basis of which figure, which data, which analysis you determined that this is the beginning of the end of Serbian finances. Is it on the basis of record high GDP growth, on the basis of record low unemployment, on the basis of a record high number of jobs, on the basis of a record number of people working, on the basis of never higher foreign direct investments, on the basis of never higher foreign exchange reserves, on the basis of a never longer a period of stable exchange rate, based on ever larger gold reserves? – Mali asked.

Mali said that in 2008 there was a collapse in our country, and that Serbia was on the verge of bankruptcy in 2012.

– Now, here we are, the fourth year, the fifth year of the crisis since 2020, we are completely stable, we achieve high rates of economic growth, we have preserved not only jobs, but we also have a new number of employees. In addition to all that, we have a public debt that is less than 50 percent of our share of GDP – said Mali.

Stating that one of the MPs said that debt is growing faster than GDP, Mali asked how the share of public debt in GDP is decreasing.

He also stated that the total budget for agriculture this year is 136.7 billion dinars.

– Not to mention what they mention, namely salaries in education and healthcare. When their party leaders put hundreds of millions of euros in their private pockets, how did nurses live, how did doctors live, how did educators live… – Mali asked.

He stated that in 2012, a specialist doctor had a salary of 67,540 dinars, and with this increase planned for January 1, he will have 160,496 dinars, a general practitioner had 53,931 dinars, and now with the increase he will have 128,158 dinars.

When it comes to teaching staff, the average salary of teachers in 2012 was 44,238 dinars, and now it will be 97,082 inars.

– Yes, maybe it is less than the average, but we are moving towards that average. And that’s why we’re going with an increase in wages – said Mali.

Mali said that the former government did not build highways, railways, or hospitals, adding that now the Moravian Corridor is being built, followed by the “Smajli”, Fruškogorski Corridor, Dinavska Magistrala, Ruma-Šabac-Loznica…

– It has never happened that we invest so much in capital investments. We have almost 700 billion dinars in our account – said Mali.

He asked where exactly the opposition sees the collapse of public finances and the danger of borrowing.

– Where do you see when you have credit rating reports from agencies that improve our credit rating from month to month? We believe that the EXPO is a great honor and a great responsibility for our country, the biggest development opportunity for us – said Mali.

The minister said that their policy is to preserve the standard of living and to improve it.

– Now you find yourself talking about the economic policy and the results, but I’m glad you live in a different time. Serbia has changed, I’m glad you see the perspective in all of that – said Mali.

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