- Government of Montenegro
Press conference following 70st Cabinet session
Press conference following 70st Cabinet session
Podgorica, Montenegro (29 March 2018) -- Press conference
following 70st Cabinet session was held today, 29 March 2018, at the Press Centre
of the Government.
At
today's session, the Government adopted the Action Plan for the implementation
of the Programme “Creative Montenegro: Identity, Image, promotion”
2017-2020, for 2018, with the Report on the Implementation of the Action Plan
for 2017.
In a press conference following 70th Cabinet Session,
Minister of Culture Aleksandar Bogdanović informed the public about the key
activities of the Action Plan, stressing that in reaching European standards it
is necessary to pay special attention to cultural integration.
The Minister emphasised that the Action Plan for 2018 plans
the realisation of nine projects, which in different ways contribute to the
contemporary revitalisation of unique and recognisable values of Montenegro.
Presenting the Report on Public Debt of Montenegro on 31
December 2017, which was adopted at today’s Cabinet session, Director General
for State Treasury at the Ministry of Finance Dragan Darmanović said that Montenegro’s public debt at the end of
last year amounted to about 65.1 percent of GDP.
“The state debt at the end of 2017 is about 65.1 percent,
and it was made up of state debt, which amounted to about 62 percent, and the
debt of local self-government, which was about 3.1 percent. Net public debt at
the end of 2017, taking into account deposits, amounted to 63.45 percent of
GDP. In the same period, as stated above, the state debt, as already mentioned,
amounted to about 62%, while the state debt reduced by the deposit amounted to
about 60.3%,” Darmanović said.
He pointed out that the external debt in 2017 increased the
most due to the withdrawal of funds for capital projects for about EUR 180
million, most of which are for the motorway on the basis of Chines loan. Darmanović
added that the Government also committed to financing Budget for about EUR 190 million.
“As for the internal debt, the internal debt has increased
by some EUR 13 million, mostly due to borrowing for the needs of financing the
Budget. At the same time, the guarantees amounted to about 7.4 percent of GDP
and they recorded a further decline over the previous period, which is also the
Government’s policy to reduce the issued guarantees, and thus reduce the risk
that the state has on the basis of these agreements,” Darmanović stated.
He announced that at today’s session, the Government also
adopted a medium-term Public Debt Management Strategy 2017-2020, stressing that
the Government’s goal and priority in the next three years is to reduce the
debt under the Maastricht criteria, and that it is below 60 percent.
PUBLIC RELATIONS SERVICE
OF THE GOVERNMENT OF MONTENEGRO