Vucic sees "quickest recovery from horrific crisis"

Vucic sees "quickest recovery from horrific crisis"

"At IMF and WB board meetings, Serbia has been declared the star pupil," Vucic said, adding that this required enormous energy and incredible courage.

"Few people in Serbian political history have had the courage to face the people and say 'we are in a dreadful situation, and we must do this and this'" without raising inflation, like some countries have done, only to have to lower salaries afterwards."

"We are introducing tough measures, we are keeping everything stable, and we know we are suffering political losses as a result, but we are going into that to make things better for Serbia," Vucic noted.

The government policy in the period to come will be one of growth and spending, Vucic announced.

"The government policy over the next four years, as an answer to all questions and my answer essentially, must in the coming period become a policy of growth in the wake of a serious period of austerity," Vucic told Tanjug.

That means growth based on investments and exports - which is its best part - as well as on spending, Vucic said.

The minimum salary has been raised, "which means that those with the lowest salaries in Serbia - around 350,000 people who are mostly working in the private sector - will see a salary increase of at least 8 pct," Vucic said.

"Also, there will be one-off benefits, as well as a pension increase - not a high one, but still an increase," he said, adding that this would boost spending.