Foreign Investors Council's White Book presented in Belgrade

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic has said that the growth of the Serbian economy has been "excellent."

In the nine months it reached 4.5 percent of GDP, and and by the end of the year it will be more than 4 percent, Brnabic said, according to remarks published by the Serbian government.

Brnabic was presenting the results of the White Book 2018 of the Foreign Investors Council, saying that the planned economic growth had been 3.5 percent of GDP.

The challenge for us is that this growth will be sustainable and that it continues in 2019 and 2020, Brnabic said.

She expressed the expectation that the surplus in the budget will be 0.6 percent by the end of the year, which is about RSD 28 billion.

"The share of public debt is decreasing and now it is at 56 percent of GDP. We plan to reduce it to 45 percent of GDP, and this requires time and energy," she added, adding that foreign direct investment exceeded two billion euros.

The prime minister noted that unemployment is falling, inflation is stable, the dinar is stable, while the share of non-performing receivables is reduced to 6.7 percent, from 21.6 percent as at the end of 2015.

"We solved the problem of IMT, we found a strategic partner for RTB Bor, found a partner for PKB and solved the problems of a whole range of companies that were once strong brands of Serbia, and now huge money from the budget, such as Ikarbus, Lasta, BIP or Port of Novi Sad," she explained.

Brnabic also announced that as of January 1, 2019, the minimum wage will be RSD 155 (equal to EUR 1.31) per hour.

"The Law on Temporary Reduction of Pensions has been abolished, I am satisfied with the results, and we also learned from what happened with the Doing Business List of the World Bank, as well as with this White Book. We are heading in the right direction, but we...

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