At the closing of the Kopaonik Business Forum, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said that the country has already undergone two phases of transformation since 2014, and that 2020 would be a turning point with the start of the third phase which focuses on digitization, as a logical possibility for growth and development of the economy.
Brnabic also said that the first phase of Serbia’s transformation began in 2014, adding that from the very beginning the government’s focus was on digitization.
“We did not accidentally choose digitization; we did not enter the world of digitization because it is modern or because it is a global trend or an end in itself, but because it was the next most logical step. From my point of view, as the Prime Minister, digitization was the only logical possibility for further and faster development,” said Brnabic.
She went on to say that, before 2014, it was not possible to invest in digitization because of the country’s poor economic situation, the growing public debt and a budget deficit of 6.4% of GDP in 2012.
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She added that, at that time, the country was unappealing to foreign investors, it had weak public investment activity which made only 2.2% of the national GDP, the inflation was 11.5%, the currency was unstable, and the unemployment rate was over 25% (over 50% in the younger population).
“Because of this situation in the country, it was time to implement the first phase of transformation with the aim of putting public finances in order, achieving macroeconomic stability, improving conditions for foreign direct investments, reducing unemployment, kickstarting the economy and building political and economic credibility of Serbia,“ she added.
One of the main reasons for the success and completion of the first phase, continued Brnabic, was an agreement with the International Monetary Fund, whose experts helped Serbia to build itself as a credible country.
The second phase of Serbia’s transformation, concluded the Prime Minister, began in 2017 and is focused mainly on digitization.
(Dnevnik, 04.03.2020)
https://www.dnevnik.rs/ekonomija/naslovi/brnabic-pocine-treca-faza-transformacije-srbije-04-03-2020
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