Press release of the 8th session of the Government of Montenegro

At its 8^th session held today, chaired by MEc Aleksa Bečić, Deputy Prime Minister for Security, Internal Policy, European and Foreign Affairs, the Cabinet adopted the draft Law on Amendments to the Law on the Central Bank of Montenegro with the Report on public discussion. The Law has been fully harmonized with the European Union acquis communautaire, in compliance with the recommendations of the European Commission, and also recommendations of the IMF given during the Safeguards Assessment Mission of the Central Bank of Montenegro. As stated in the discussion, the amendments to the Law encompass certain issues related to harmonisation with other laws that were adopted after the final amendments, including issues for which the work practice in the Central Bank indicated the need of different standardization. The opinion of the European Commission on this Draft was obtained, and it provided specific recommendations for corresponding amendments related to provisions governing the operations of the Central Bank of Montenegro following the accession to the European monetary union. All recommendations of the European Commission were included in the draft Law.

The Cabinet adopted the Draft Law on International Development Cooperation and Sending International Humanitarian Aid. The Law proposal primarily outlines a decentralized system of international development cooperation and international humanitarian aid, as opposed to the applicable Law according to which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the sole coordinator and holder of obligations related to implementation of international development support and sending international humanitarian aid, and taking into consideration that government institutions, local self-government bodies and other entities financed from the State budget, also, provide official development support to partner countries. At the same time, technical assistance projects are recognized as a form of international development cooperation, and it is envisaged that the coordination of sending international humanitarian aid will be performed by the State administration body in charge of protection and rescue activities. In addition, the Law stipulates the financing sources for technical assistance projects, which may be provided from the European Union budget and other countries providing official development support or other sources of financing.

The Cabinet adopted a Decree on Customs Tariff for 2024, which creates conditions for uninterrupted foreign trade between Montenegro and other states. The basic amendments to the Customs Tariff for 2024 refer to the change of nomenclature which is harmonized with the amended Combined Nomenclature of the European Union for 2024.  

The Cabinet adopted a Decision on amending the Decision on introducing international restrictive measures established in the decisions of the Council of the European Union in view of Russia’s actions destablishing the situation in Ukraine. It implies the updating of international restrictive measures, within continued harmonisation with common foreign and safety policy of the European Union.

The Cabinet adopted the Cost-Benefit Analysis following the decisions on temporary exemption from visa obtaining obligation for citizens of Arab Republic of Egypt, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Republic of Uzbekistan. Since Montenegro is dominantly an air destination, it was concluded that adoption of the mentioned decisions significantly contributed to the increase of air availability, aimed at conquering new high-yield outbound tourism markets. A discernible increase in the number of visitors from these countries demonstrates that there is a great interest for Montenegro. At the same time, the Analysis states that due to the commitment of our country to become a full member of the European Union, it is necessary to adhere to visa policy implemented by the EU. In that regard, it was proposed to establish adequate mechanisms that would simplify and accelerate the visa approval process, in order to facilitate travels to residents of those countries that are considered as significant tourism markets, which would positively reflect on total economic effects. This primarily refers to the electronic visa system, which would enable shortening of the visa approval procedure and increase of tourism turnover, including a significant reduction of costs in diplomatic and consular missions.

The Cabinet discussed Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance, submitted to the Parliament by Bogdan Božović, member of the Parliament. In that regard, the Cabinet concluded to submit the Opinion to the Parliament of Montenegro that the draft Law should not be accepted.

The Cabinet adopted the Information about the aid to agricultural producers for remodelling facilities for on-farm milk processing, who applied at the first Public Invitation for granting support for on-farm milk processing for 2023, but were not eligible because they failed to meet the minimum national standards for facilities of the Administration for Food Safety, Veterinary and Phytosanitary Affairs.  To that end, the Ministry of Agriculture was assigned to make the payment of aid in the amount of 50% premium, in total 299,409 euros, from funds envisaged by the Agro-budget for 2023, as a form of aid for 667 agricultural producers who did not exercise their right on aid based on Public Invitation. The aid funds will be paid with the purpose of remodelling facilities for on-farm milk processing.

The Cabinet adopted the Information on issuing Treasury Bills in order to provide the part of funds shortage for financing the budget for 2023 and building up fiscal reserve, in the amount of 40 million euros. Given that the Cabinet has already made the decision on issuing Treasury Bills in the amount up to 50 million euros, and its implementation has started, i.e. two auctions were completed and 30 million euros of Treasury Bills were sold, it was concluded that interest rates, as envisaged, were lower than current market interest rate. Since the banking and non-banking sector still express interest in the acquisition of Treasury Bills, due to short maturity date, the Cabinet assigned the Ministry of Finance to undertake all necessary activities related to issuing or issuings Treasury Bills in the amount of 40 million euros by the end of 2023. The amount, maturity and date of each issue, as stated in the discussion, will be determined by the Ministry in accordance with estimated needs.

The Cabinet adopted the Information on reallocating unspent funds within the capital budget of Montenegro for 2023, in the total amount of 18,213,927 euros. In that regard, the Ministry of Finance was assigned to reallocate the unspent funds in the amount 6,213,927 euros within the Administration for Capital Projects and 12 million within the Transport Adminstration to other capital projects.

The Information on reallocation of achieved savings and provision of shortage of funds at specific consumption units was adopted. In that regard, the Ministry of Finance was assigned to reallocate the funds in the total amount of 10,552,877 euros for paying due liabilities within a specific number of consumption units.

The Cabinet adopted the Draft Amendments to the Proposal for the Law on Amendments to the Law on Games of Chance.