Sinisa Mali elected Serbia's new finance minister

The Serbian National Assembly on Tuesday supported Sinisa Mali as the country's new finance minister.

154 members of the Assembly (people's deputies) voted in favor of the proposal tabled by Prime Minister Ana Brnabic and elected Mali, who up until now has served as mayor of Belgrade, the government announced.

Brnabic said regarding her nomination that she tried to explain in the best possible way, with concrete figures and evidence why her proposal is good, adding that she backed it up with economic indicators, but that she also understands that the opposition is reluctant to accept that.

"I am sorry about that, because it would be responsible and in the national interest to start accepting some figures. First of all, the results and successes that the Serbian government has not attributed to itself on its own, but objective, rather critical international partners and organizations," the prime minister said.

Brnabic cited part of the European Commission's progress report on Serbia, which refers to economic indicators and which states that our country has made good economic progress, that the issue of the budget deficit has been solved, and that macroeconomic stability has been preserved.

She also assessed that the conditions on the labor market have been improved, and she urged Sinisa Mali to continue to work in such a way as to maintain success and help the Serbian government team to make the citizens live better every day.