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PM Marković at PMQs: We manage to preserve liquidity of budget, even in extremely negative conditions of coronavirus pandemic

Published on: Jul 22, 2020 • 10:00 PM Author: PR Service
Podgorica, Montenegro (22 July 2020) -- The Government has created, in the past three years, a stable financial system that has withstood unforeseen pressure caused by the coronavirus pandemic, while the budget liquidity has been preserved even in extremely unfavourable pandemic conditions, said Prime Minister of Montenegro Duško Marković today at the Prime Minister's Questions. 

"The liquidity of the Budget has been preserved in extremely negative economic circumstances and in doing so all the obligations of the State have been regularly serviced, while preserving the levels of salaries, pensions and social benefits, as well as the continuation of capital implementation of capital projects." … In the upcoming period, the focus of economic policy will be directed towards economic recovery, i.e. the return of positive trend that characterized the economy before the outbreak of the pandemic and the creation of conditions for long-term growth and development. Starting from the projected values of revenues and public spending, after the negative budget balance in 2020, we expect a sharp decline in the deficit in 2021, which shows that the negative result is primarily due to extraordinary economic conditions caused by the pandemic, while the deficit below 2% of GDP is expected in 2022. Achieving this goal will be approached through creating conditions for expanding the economic base, expanding fiscal potential, continuing and investing in strategically important sectors of the economy, in order to boost production and the real economy, and to substitute part of imports. The already prepared third package of economic measures is intended for achieving these goals, based on better and more favourable credit support and the use of donor funds," said the Prime Minister, answering a question from the MP Club of Bosniak Party, Coalition Albanians Decisively and the Croatian Civic Initiative on Governments planes for payment of pensions and social benefits in the context of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Prime Minister reminded of the Government's results in previous years, saying that it is a good base and a condition for increasing the living standards of citizens.

"When it comes to the economic development of Montenegro, the results achieved in the previous period indicate the establishment of a positive trend, which is supported by the achieved results: In the past three years, the real growth was 4.4%, which places the Montenegrin economy at the top of the Western Balkans region; The number of employees in 2019 amounted to almost 204 thousand, which is over 13 thousand employees more than in 2018; The implemented fiscal consolidation reduced the budget deficit from 5.8% of GDP in 2017 to 2.9% of GDP in 2019, with a current account surplus in all years; Projects worth almost EUR 1 billion were implemented, through the Capital Budget, in the period 2017-2020; Original budget revenues have increased by over EUR 300 million or 20%, since the beginning of fiscal consolidation until the end of 2019; The positive results of fiscal consolidation enabled an increase in the minimum wage by 15% and a reduction in the tax burden on labour; Tax debt was reduced by over 30%, compared to 2016; The improvement of the fiscal position has strengthened the country's creditworthiness, and the most favourable and favourable borrowing in recent history has provided a better credit structure of debt and punctuality of liabilities. According to the projections of all relevant international financial institutions, Montenegro would achieve GDP growth even in 2020, with the continuation of positive trends in the field of public finances, through the projected reduction of the budget deficit and the transition of public debt to a downward path. However, like all countries, Montenegro faced a pandemic of the COVID - 19 virus in March, and measures aimed at protecting the health of the population, i.e. bringing the pandemic under control, led to a significant restriction of economic activity and consequently to the decline in public revenues," said Prime Minister Duško Marković.
 
PUBLIC RELATIONS SERVICE OF THE GOVERNMENT OF MONTENEGRO
 





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