Q:
A:
Pensions rise 5.13 percent
Belgrade,
15 September 2004
Serbian Minister of Finance Mladjan Dinkic said today that the July pensions, due to be paid on September 25, will be higher by 5.13 percent on the average.
Dinkic told a press conference that the average pension check will be 9,578 dinars, up from 9,111 dinars in the previous month.
He explained that the increase comes as a result of regular quarter-by-quarter adjustment of pensions with wages and prices, which both rose in the previous quarter.
According to him, the increase in pensions will call for additional budget outlays of 720 million dinars a month.
Dinkic stressed that the Serbian government plans to repay all pensions in arrears within three years’ time, recalling that the state owes a total of 21 billion dinars in unpaid pensions.
He said that the government has paid 900 million dinars in wheat premiums so far, adding that a further 200 million dinars will be paid by the end of next week.
Dinkic also announced a meeting with the IMF mission on September 17 and he added that the talks will cover Serbia’s 8 percent GDP growth this year, the country’s biggest economic growth in the past 24 years.
He explained that this year’s GDP growth was due to a 7 percent rise in industrial production: with a 10 percent expansion in agricultural output, a 17 percent growth in the transportation sector, and a 10 percent growth in construction industry.
Dinkic stressed that GDP growth for full 2004 will be twice as big as forecast despite last year’s recession and inflation should hover between 9 and 9.5 percent at the end of the year.
He added that hard currency reserves at the National Bank of Serbia now stand at $3.56 billion, while the country’s total hard currency reserves including those at commercial banks are $4.5 billion.
Serbia’s major problems and key issues to be discussed with the IMF, according to Dinkic, are foreign trade gap and budget deficit.
He also announced that a delegation form the World Bank (WB) will visit Belgrade next week and he expressed hope that the WB will approve the second tranche of credit, worth $40 million, for restructuring of the country’s financial sectors.
The Ministry of Finance will hold regular press conferences every Wednesday at 12:00 noon.
He explained that the increase comes as a result of regular quarter-by-quarter adjustment of pensions with wages and prices, which both rose in the previous quarter.
According to him, the increase in pensions will call for additional budget outlays of 720 million dinars a month.
Dinkic stressed that the Serbian government plans to repay all pensions in arrears within three years’ time, recalling that the state owes a total of 21 billion dinars in unpaid pensions.
He said that the government has paid 900 million dinars in wheat premiums so far, adding that a further 200 million dinars will be paid by the end of next week.
Dinkic also announced a meeting with the IMF mission on September 17 and he added that the talks will cover Serbia’s 8 percent GDP growth this year, the country’s biggest economic growth in the past 24 years.
He explained that this year’s GDP growth was due to a 7 percent rise in industrial production: with a 10 percent expansion in agricultural output, a 17 percent growth in the transportation sector, and a 10 percent growth in construction industry.
Dinkic stressed that GDP growth for full 2004 will be twice as big as forecast despite last year’s recession and inflation should hover between 9 and 9.5 percent at the end of the year.
He added that hard currency reserves at the National Bank of Serbia now stand at $3.56 billion, while the country’s total hard currency reserves including those at commercial banks are $4.5 billion.
Serbia’s major problems and key issues to be discussed with the IMF, according to Dinkic, are foreign trade gap and budget deficit.
He also announced that a delegation form the World Bank (WB) will visit Belgrade next week and he expressed hope that the WB will approve the second tranche of credit, worth $40 million, for restructuring of the country’s financial sectors.
The Ministry of Finance will hold regular press conferences every Wednesday at 12:00 noon.
-
Belgrade, 22 January 2025Egypt one of Serbia’s closest partners on international stage
-
Belgrade, 9 July 2024Support for 104 associations in diaspora that preserve Serbian language, culture
-
Belgrade, 15 April 2024Competition for StarTech grants open until 31 May
-
Belgrade, 2 October 2023Serbia respects Resolution 1244 and will do everything to preserve peace
-
Belgrade, 13 September 2023Day of Serbian Unity to be celebrated outside borders of Serbia, Republika Srpska for the first time
-
Belgrade, 8 August 2023RSD 24.2m in state aid paid out to citizens affected by storm
-
Belgrade, 17 June 2023Belgrade is doing everything to preserve peace in Kosovo and Metohija
-
Belgrade, 15 June 2023Slovenia will continue to support Serbia on its way to EU
-
Belgrade, 5 May 2023Emergency measures, tightening of conditions for possessing weapons
-
Belgrade, 3 May 2023Three days of mourning in Serbia over tragedy at Vladislav Ribnikar primary school