Finance minister: Balanced budget by 2015

Finance Minister Diana Dragutinovic announced reforms of the tax system, which would be one of the key topics of discussion with the IMF. She said that Serbia needs to have a balanced budget by 2015, which would be done by decreasing public spending percentage-wise in the gross domestic product (GDP) over the next five years. Finance minister: Balanced budget by 2015 Dragutinovic, who met with IMF and World Bank officials in Washington recently, said that the tax system would also be reformed, which would be one of the main topics of discussions when the International Monetary Fund’s delegation visits Serbia again. She expects that the IMF and World Bank would be supporting the fiscal policy reforms and the policies for public spending. “The direction of the tax reforms must be discussed with the IMF. We must see in what direction we will form the concept of the entire tax system, however, tax reform will be most important to them. A consensus must be reached. It is clear that all countries are heading in the direction of pension reforms, long-term decreased in pension payments and public production,” Dragutinovic said. The first draft of the law for fiscal responsibility has already been forwarded to the International Monetary Fund for an expert analysis. The draft defines the allowed limit of the public debt and how much the state can take out in loans each year. “We will have a period until 2015, and in this period we will decrease public spending every year for about 0.75 so that in this period we will be able to balance the budget,” she said, adding that the public debt cannot by greater than 40 percent of the GDP, and a limit will be put on the credit of the state which will not be able to be greater than 2.5 percent of the GDP. The IMF mission is expected to be in Belgrade in mid-May, and the main topics of discussion will be tax reforms and the reform of the pension system.

Finance minister: Balanced budget by 2015

Dragutinović, who met with IMF and World Bank officials in Washington recently, said that the tax system would also be reformed, which would be one of the main topics of discussions when the International Monetary Fund’s delegation visits Serbia again.

She expects that the IMF and World Bank would be supporting the fiscal policy reforms and the policies for public spending.

“The direction of the tax reforms must be discussed with the IMF. We must see in what direction we will form the concept of the entire tax system, however, tax reform will be most important to them. A consensus must be reached. It is clear that all countries are heading in the direction of pension reforms, long-term decreased in pension payments and public production,” Dragutinović said.

The first draft of the law for fiscal responsibility has already been forwarded to the International Monetary Fund for an expert analysis. The draft defines the allowed limit of the public debt and how much the state can take out in loans each year.

“We will have a period until 2015, and in this period we will decrease public spending every year for about 0.75 so that in this period we will be able to balance the budget,” she said, adding that the public debt cannot by greater than 40 percent of the GDP, and a limit will be put on the credit of the state which will not be able to be greater than 2.5 percent of the GDP.

The IMF mission is expected to be in Belgrade in mid-May, and the main topics of discussion will be tax reforms and the reform of the pension system.