“The world we live in today is not the one we knew two years ago,” said Finance Minister Sinisa Mali, addressing a large gathering of economists, experts, bankers, heads of international organizations such as the World Bank and the IMF, ministers of the Serbian government, eminent businessmen…

“A lot of things changed when the pandemic started, the whole world stopped,” Mali said.

According to him, this triggered the greatest economic crisis of all time.

“Serbia immediately bought all the necessary vaccines, built a COVID hospital… and as far as the economy is concerned, we had three packages of measures worth 8.8 billion euros. She has the rate the highest cumulative GDP growth in Europe. This has not happened in normal times,” Mali said.

“We have shown how strong we are in dealing with the crisis. In addition to investments, we have saved jobs. There have been no dark scenarios of mass layoffs and factory closures in Serbia. We continued with the Serbia 2022 program, we did not give up,” he said.

“The pro-natal policy has been a priority in recent weeks. Despite the pandemic, we have shown that we know and want to take care of those who need the most help, and now they are the young people. What if we don’t t having children in our country is not worth much not even to take care of the economy and all the rest, ”explained the Minister of Finance.

“A lot has happened, the energy crisis, the coronavirus pandemic, the situation in Ukraine. The question is what will happen next,” warned Mali. “The price of gas has exceeded $3,600, the price of coal has risen 75% in five days, the barrel of oil has jumped more than ever,” he said, adding: “Circumstances have changed, everything has changed, and Serbia continues to pursue a responsible monetary and fiscal policy.”

“Economic growth is also a priority. Together with the IMF, we are working on e-taxation, electronic invoices, everything necessary to ensure a stable fiscal policy for a long time. The second guarantee scheme is still in force. The The state guarantees the loans they take out,” Mali said.

“We paid 20,000 dinars to all pensioners, 10,000 to health workers, 100 euros to young people, and we are taking care of the rest of the citizens by preserving jobs,” the minister said. “As Vui said, we are filling the reserves with raw materials,” he said.

“We have strong and stable public finances to be able to buy everything in times of crisis. In the event of an even more serious crisis than this, the state has something to react,” Mali said.

“We have basic frozen black foodstuffs, fuel, there is no increase in electricity prices for citizens, the exchange rate is always stable. This is how we affect expectations The responsible state implements responsible measures,” he stressed.

“We did not cause this crisis, but it was imported from abroad. However, we have never responded to it stronger and faster. We have had a budget surplus for 4 consecutive years. That is why we were able to react when the crisis happened,” explained the Minister of Finance.

According to him, two years after the pandemic, it’s easy to be smart, “what we wanted was to save jobs, and we wanted to do what is in our hands – invest heavily in capital projects again. “.