Public administration employs 500k people - minister

Public administration employs 500k people - minister

She said that the government will, together with the IMF mission, make "good estimates," and then reconsider "what is ahead of us, before we come out with a detailed plan."

Udovicki also revealed that Serbia's public administration now employs around 500,000 full-time and part-time employees.

She "stressed that the figures mentioned previously about the total number of public administration employees are not correct," and that "citizens have no reason to worry."

Former Finance Minister Lazar Krstic said in early 2014 that the number was at some 780,000 people.

Udovicki said it was good news that "things are now moving much better than expected, in the data and the financial realization of the budget."

According to her, the most important thing is "to see if there are serious possibilities to improve work and make savings without forcibly laying anyone off."

Udovicki said that "what's most important now is to preserve the savings made so far and preserve the efficiency of the state's work."

She added that "savings have been made in several places and more than we expected," and that the government has secured "serious budget support from the EU" in the amount of about EUR 80 million, earmarked for the public administration reform for the period from mid-2016 until 2020.