Press Release: IMF Mission is visiting Montenegro

Minister of Finance, Radoje Žugić PhD, with staff has met with the members of the IMF’s mission lead by Alasdair Scott, head of mission for Montenegro, and Aasim Husain, Deputy Director of the European Department at the IMF.

Current macro-economic and fiscal situation was discussed in the meeting, with an overview of issues concerning budget planning and execution, medium-term projections and public debt trends.

While presenting core fiscal and macro-economic parameters, the Minister emphasized that we are on the right track to meet medium-term macro-economic projections, which entail reaching higher economic growth rates and further improvement of fiscal positions of Montenegro aimed at reaching balanced budgets. Minister Žugić informed IMF representatives of the status of the current activities of the Ministry of Finance, focused on budget preparation for the next year, as well as further improvements tothe fiscal framework in order to free growth potential and more adequate utilisation of natural resources.

Parties to the discussion have also addressed the public debt issue, a particularly sensitive one, having in mind the period of forthcoming due liabilities and stated that there is presence of certain risks that should call for a need of additional caution in managing borrowing policy. IMF representatives have offered their assistance to the Ministry of Finance on debt sustainability analysis.  

Discussions with the IMF representatives will continue this and the next week, and on the last day of the visit, 4 November, after a concluding meeting, the Mission’s conclusions and their assessment of the economic situation in Montenegro will be presented to the public.