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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Serbia to continue with dynamic growth, reforms

Belgrade, 14 January 2016

Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic stated today that the main goals of the Serbian government this year are to preserve peace and stability in the country and the region and to create conditions for economic growth through more investments.

Vucic said at a press conference that a lot of work and difficult reforms are ahead of our country and added that 2016 will be much more successful and somewhat easier than the previous two years.

It is of extraordinary importance that we have set grounds for development of the Serbian economy and entered a period of dynamic growth, the Prime Minister stated and announced that the vice president of the World Bank will visit Belgrade in early March and the president will visit Belgrade during the year.

The main motive for their visits is reform of public companies, specifically the Electric Power Industry of Serbia, road companies Putevi Srbije and Koridori Srbije, the Serbian Railways and the Srbijagas gas company.

According to Vucic, the World Bank is not fully satisfied with the implementation of reforms of these companies, but it is not dissatisfied either because Serbia has so far privatised 83 out of 100 companies envisages by that programme.

He added that if an agreement with the Chinese company HBIS regarding the Zelezara Smederevo steelworks is concluded in May, the GDP growth this year could be as much as 2.5%, and over 4% in 2017.

The negotiations with the Chinese HBIS are of strategic importance for Serbia and if the government handles them successfully, all citizens of Serbia will feel the prosperity, which will contribute to a faster approximation to EU countries.

The Prime Minister also announced that new companies will come to Serbia in the first six months of the year and will employ 12,000 people, and underlined that the government has set aside three times more funds for encouraging entrepreneurship in this year’s budget than last year.

Speaking about good results achieved so far, Vucic mentioned shorter delays in loan repayment and increased lending activity.

Usually it is impossible to have a surplus in January, but we have managed to keep this month stable and to have a considerable surplus, although that is one of the most difficult months of the year, Vucic pointed out.

According to him, RSD 13.1 billion has been paid this month from the mobile operators "Telekom Serbia", "Telenor" and "VIP" into the state budget for the digital frequency spectrum.

Progress is expected in the field of tourism too, he added, which is planned to grow by 12-13%.

Vucic announced that as of next week he will begin a tour of schools and health centres in Serbia which will be renovated to a greater or smaller degree this year and specified this inludes about 1,000 facilities.

He underlined that it will not only be painting and whitewashing, but also the reconstruction of toilets.

The Prime Minister reiterated that the early parliamentary elections are a possible option, but that he has still not made a final decision, noting that in this decision he will not be guided by the interests of political parties.