New finanace minister announces budget review for September

New finanace minister announces budget review for September

Vujović added that preparations for the 2015 budget with projections for 2016 and 2017 would begin in the first half of October.

“My goal is make sure that these projections are not only indicative but also constitute a precise plan which will be realized in the next three years so as to achieve a sustainable deficit level,” Vujović told reporters in the Serbian parliament after he was elected as new minister of finance.

The goal is to reduce the deficit by 2017 to 2-2.3 percent of the country's GDP, he said and underscored that all necessary measures would be implemented to this end.

“I am determined to reduce the deficit and in the first stage we will implement measures aimed at establishing control over all budget elements, and measures aimed at savings and revenue increase will be launched at the same time, especially in the fight against grey economy and increase of VAT-based revenues,” Vujović said.

There are cities and entire industries which are not paying their VAT liabilities or are not paying them fully, he said.

“We will start by cutting the costs and at the same time introduce measures to increase revenues and unless we record income, we will have to up VAT, but I think that it is much better to have the political support and the support of companies and the nation to increase revenues and thus achieve deficit reduction in the easiest way,” the minister noted.

Vujović explained his principle, according to which everyone has to take on an equal portion of the burden aimed at deficit and debt reduction so that nobody would be either spared or overburdened.

The current minister of finance, who until now held office as the minister of economy, said that changes will be made in the area after the enforcement of the amendments to the Privatization Law and the Law on Bankruptcy which will enter into force next week.

“Then a call will be made to all potential investors, restructuring companies and other enterprises in the Privatization Agency to file credible plans for corporate recovery within 30 days, probably by the end of September,” Vujović said.

He underscored that solutions to the debts of some companies would be sought as well so that the enterprises may complete the privatization process successfully and begin new production, and for the companies for which these possibilities prove lacking, a social program will be offered to the employees and solutions will be sought through bankruptcy procedures.