On Thursday, members of the Serbian Parliament voted on the budget proposal for 2024. Of the 189 deputies present, 145 were in favor of adoption, 31 were against, while 13 did not vote.
In the first analysis of the budget for the next year, the Fiscal Council of Serbia assessed that the planned deficit of EUR 1.7 billion, or 2.2 percent of GDP, was too high for Serbia. They also pointed out that according to the formula from the fiscal rules, the appropriate level of Serbia’s budget deficit should be below 1.5 percent of the gross national product.
“Nevertheless, the budget for 2024 made certain moves in the right direction. The planned budget deficit in 2024 is lower than the one predicted in 2023 (2.8 percent of GDP), and during 2024, the share of public debt in GDP is expected to further decrease, from 53.3 to 51 .7 percent”, according to the Fiscal Council.
Economist Aleksandar Stevanović, commenting on the adopted budget for 2024, in an interview, says that the projected GDP growth of 3.5 percent is not overly optimistic, but neither is it a conservative estimate, and that essentially what is foreseen in the budget is achievable.
“The key question is how to make economic growth from five to six percent? Serbia should not be satisfied with growth of 3.5 percent considering its capabilities, but could at least aim for growth rates between five and six percent for another decade or a decade and a half. It would be quite unfortunate for us if, in the long term, we fail to raise the growth rates to that level, and on the other hand – whoever would have the courage to implement measures leading to high growth would probably realize that he created a disaster for himself in the elections.” , believes Stevanović.
