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Tough reforms to bring better life to Serbian people: PM

Xinhua, April 27, 2015 Adjust font size:

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said on Monday at the government's ceremonial session that the country's leadership did well in the past year, and citizens will benefit from the continuation of reforms.

The ceremonial session, on the occasion of one year since the forming of the government, was held at the Kolubara coal mine, some 30 kilometers southwest of Belgrade. Vucic here presented some of the biggest achievements of the Serbian government in the past year, among which are 4 billion euros (4.3 billion U.S. dollars) of investments that were initiated and the progress that was achieved in fiscal consolidation.

"Serbian government started a number of important infrastructural projects including the Belgrade Waterfront project, high speed railway from Belgrade to Budapest, reconstruction of some 100 kilometres of roads," he said, adding that Serbia plans to construct 200 kilometres of roads by the end of the year.

Vucic complained that the government in the beginning of its mandate coped with "most horrifying" floods that took numerous lives and brought damage to Serbian energy sector.

He said that important economic reforms were started afterwards including fiscal consolidation and the privatization of public companies - a process to be continued in the second year of government's mandate.

"If we manage to keep the fiscal deficit under 3.5% of the GDP, our reforms will prove successful. If we manage to achieve growth of some 2% or 2.5% by the end of 2016, Serbia will be one of the most successful countries in Europe," Vucic said.

He promised that if the trend achieved in the first four months of 2015 continues on, Serbia will witness economic growth and progress that will result in better life for its citizens.

He stressed that 192,927 jobs were created in the past year of the government's mandate, but that this fact didn't reflect on the high unemployment rate because the country "lost approximately the same number of work places."

In the meantime, according to Vucic, Serbia will continue to implement and speed up "painful reforms" in order to cut budget spending.

One of those measures, as he announced, will be the reduction of the number of MPs in the parliament from 250 to 120 or 150, which will not only reduce expenses but also push the parliament and the government to more efficiently "struggle to protect its people" instead of privileges of powerful individuals. Endit