Petrovic: Pension system reform is of primary import

BELGRADE – President of Serbia's Fiscal Council Pavle Petrovic said Monday that a pension system reform should stand first in the forthcoming reforms in Serbia, adding that the issue is not being given too much thought at the moment.

Speaking at a meeting discussing deepening of economic cooperation between Serbia and the United Kingdom, Petrovic said that the pension reform is urgent as the biggest expenditures are made in this very segment, adding that a sustainable pension system necessitates the retirement age for women to be raised from 60 to 63 years old and perhaps even equaled to the retirement age for men, currently at 65.

In Serbia, he said, we have a particularly acute early retirement problem, with about 70 percent of men and 50 percent of women retiring before reaching the statutory retirement age.

Petrovic also pointed to the necessity of dealing with the problem of public enterprises as they have shown to be “a huge fiscal problem” causing an increase in public debt.

He said that public enterprises's huge losses are among the reasons why this year’s deficit could reach eight percent of GDP.
“The deficit would be the biggest in Europe, and would come precisely from the losses made by public enterprises,” said Petrovic.

The Fiscal Council president also stressed that the most important move for Serbia at this moment would be to conclude an agreement with the International Monetary Fund guaranteeing a fiscal consolidation in place as planned.

Photo Tanjug/S. Radovanovic

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