Brussels predicts BETTER GROWTH for Serbia compared to the EU

In the latest spring forecasts, the European Commission increased the projection of Serbia’s growth for this year to 5.3 percent, and for next year it predicts growth of 4.0 percent.

In the previous autumn report, the EC forecast Serbia’s gross domestic product growth of 4.8 percent in 2021.

„It is predicted that the Serbian economy will recover strongly in 2021, even above pre-crisis levels of production, driven mainly by investments and private consumption. „Due to renewed fiscal support measures and high growth of public investments, the general government deficit is expected to decrease only slightly in 2021, after which a significant reduction will follow in 2022,“ according to the spring forecasts published on the official EC website.

Serbia thus received better economic growth projections from the EC in 2021 compared to the EU, which is projected to grow by 4.2 percent, and compared to the eurozone (4.4 percent).

In the EC’s economic forecast, only Spain with 5.9 percent and France with 5.7 percent have better GDP growth projections, due to the more significant decline they recorded in 2020.

The EC points out that  the Serbian economy had a „slight decline“ in 2020 of only one percent, thanks to the strong pre – crisis economic momentum, significant support measures, the sectoral structure of the economy and the relatively limited restrictive measures introduced to combat the effects of covid 19.

According to the EC, Serbia’s public debt in 2021 will amount to about 60.7 percent of GDP, while in 2022 a moderate decline to 60.4 percent is expected.

When it comes to the labour market in Serbia, the EC predicts that the unemployment rate will drop from 9.3 percent in 2021 to 8.5 percent in 2022.

Izvor: RTS, Tanjug

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