Serbia facing worker shortage, hiring Albanians - Vucic

According to President Aleksandar Vucic, the unemployment rate in Serbia has gone down to "12 or 13 percent" from 26 percent.

The country is already facing a labor shortage, "although many don't believe me," Vucic added.

He said that he toured the Belgrade Waterfront construction site with Mayor Sinisa Mali, and noticed that workers there "did not speak Serbian." The president was then told these were Albanians from Macedonia, "while now in their place are workers from the Serb Republic" - i.e., the Serb entity in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Vucic said that he also saw Albanians from Macedonia work at other construction sites in Serbia, such as highways and tunnels - "because we don't have enough workers."

In the same interview, Vucic announced that Serbia's public debt will be below 52 percent of GDP, i.e., among the lowest in the region, while the state budget has had a surplus for the third year running.