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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Poverty risk rate reduced

Belgrade, 12 February 2019

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic attended today the presentation of the Third National Report on Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction in the Republic of Serbia for the period 2014-2017, adopted by the government on 27 December 2018.

On this occasion it was pointed out that extreme forms of poverty in Serbia are almost eradicated and the poverty risk rate has been reduced, but that the results in this area, despite visible progress, are far from the desired ones.

Brnabic pointed out that data from the third quarter of 2018 show that the unemployment rate is 11.3%, adding that the government's goal is for it to be one-digit.

According to Brnabic, the government of Serbia has implemented a number of measures aimed at reducing poverty, which are, above all, the fight against the gray economy and the increase in pensions and minimum labour costs.

The most important is that these measures gave concrete results. Today we can say that the situation is better, which obliges us to continue in the same direction, with even more energy, because things can obviously change, she pointed out.

She also highlighted the reform of the social welfare system, stressing that in the future, the needs of citizens should be better understood, since the state allocates a lot of funds for this purpose.

The Prime Minister also highlighted the reform of the education system, including inclusive education.

The presentation of the report was also attended by Swiss Ambassador to Serbia Philippe Guex, who said that Switzerland supports the Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction Team since its formation ten years ago.

The report covers the period from 2014 to 2017 and contains an overview of the legal, strategic and institutional framework relevant to the processes of social inclusion and poverty reduction, analysis of the current situation in relevant areas, review of the implemented measures and programs, conclusions and basic directions for the next period.