The vice-president of the People’s Party (Narodna Stranka), Miroslav Aleksić, said that “the 2021 state budget is an irresponsible, unrealistic and pre-election promotion, and not an evolutionary financial plan as the Minister of Finance, Siniša Mali, called it.”
“The new budget absolutely does not respect the priorities of the state and citizens of Serbia, but it is based on further uncontrolled borrowing and we can therefore expect a serious financial crisis in 2021”, said Aleksić.
He added that, in the year of the crisis in which the pandemic doesn’t show any signs of slowing down, the budget money is directed to megalomaniac projects, such as the construction of a national stadium for which 290 billion dinars are allocated.
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A budget of more than 40 billion dinars has been allocated for the Serbian government, while subsidies of 17 billion dinars have been granted to PE Putevi Srbije (Roads of Serbia), 15 billion to foreign companies, 14 billion to Serbian Railways and 5.2 billion for the construction of Trebinje airport.
“Who is responsible for throwing away hundreds of billions of dinars in a country where public debt threatens to cause a crisis, a country where the health system is collapsing, a country where we fund medical treatment for sick children through SMS donations?” Aleksić asks.
“By the government constantly borrowing since 2012, every citizen of Serbia now owes 2,000 euro. And citizens should know this when they are told fairy tales and stories about how we are an ‘economic tiger’,” Aleksić said at the press conference in front of the Serbian Parliament, where Finance Minister Siniša Mali presented the draft budget bill for 2021.
He also said that public debt will continue to grow because in 2021, the government predicted a deficit of 147 billion dinars, while farmers are left to their own devices, imports encouraged and domestic production is slowly being destroyed.
(Danas, 08.12.2020)
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