Serbia’s New Growth Agenda : Investment for Growth

Because of its difficult starting position in transitioning to a market economy, so far macroeconomic policy in Serbia has mainly been concerned with achieving stability. At the start of its transition in 2001, Serbia was practically bankrupt, burd...

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Main Author:	World Bank
Format:	Report
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2020
Subjects:	ECONOMIC GROWTH PRIVATE INVESTMENT PUBLIC INVESTMENT SAVINGS
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/842791585547764962/Serbia-s-New-Growth-Agenda-Country-Economic-Memorandum-Investment-for-Growth http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33565

id	okr-10986-33565
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-335652021-05-25T09:34:56Z Serbia’s New Growth Agenda : Investment for Growth World Bank ECONOMIC GROWTH PRIVATE INVESTMENT PUBLIC INVESTMENT SAVINGS Because of its difficult starting position in transitioning to a market economy, so far macroeconomic policy in Serbia has mainly been concerned with achieving stability. At the start of its transition in 2001, Serbia was practically bankrupt, burdened with old overdue debt and huge arrears in budgetary payments, especially pensions. At the end of 2000, public debt was 175 percent of GDP and external debt was 128 percent. In both 2000 and 2001, inflation was over 80 percent. High inflation and external imbalances were the main concerns all the way through the global financial crisis (GFC). The GFC (as well as external shocks) brought multiple recessions between 2009 and 2014, and a major widening of the fiscal deficit. Since 2014, the focus has been on consolidating public finances, in addition to keeping inflation low. While macroeconomic stability is a necessary precondition for growth, the question is whether Serbia can do more to create a pro-growth environment. Serbia has succeeded in keeping inflation low over recent years; the current account deficit (CAD) is now low enough to be manageable and is almost entirely financed by non-debt-creating flows; large fiscal deficits have been converted to a surplus; and public debt is heading downward. However, growth is still meager. To ensure that the Serbian economy grows more quickly, the focus should be on increasing investment—both private and public. 2020-04-09T20:30:37Z 2020-04-09T20:30:37Z 2020-03-26 Report http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/842791585547764962/Serbia-s-New-Growth-Agenda-Country-Economic-Memorandum-Investment-for-Growth http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33565 English Country Economic Memorandum; CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Economic & Sector Work Economic & Sector Work :: Country Economic Memorandum Europe and Central Asia Serbia
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English
topic	ECONOMIC GROWTH PRIVATE INVESTMENT PUBLIC INVESTMENT SAVINGS
spellingShingle	ECONOMIC GROWTH PRIVATE INVESTMENT PUBLIC INVESTMENT SAVINGS World Bank Serbia’s New Growth Agenda : Investment for Growth
geographic_facet	Europe and Central Asia Serbia
relation	Country Economic Memorandum;
description	Because of its difficult starting position in transitioning to a market economy, so far macroeconomic policy in Serbia has mainly been concerned with achieving stability. At the start of its transition in 2001, Serbia was practically bankrupt, burdened with old overdue debt and huge arrears in budgetary payments, especially pensions. At the end of 2000, public debt was 175 percent of GDP and external debt was 128 percent. In both 2000 and 2001, inflation was over 80 percent. High inflation and external imbalances were the main concerns all the way through the global financial crisis (GFC). The GFC (as well as external shocks) brought multiple recessions between 2009 and 2014, and a major widening of the fiscal deficit. Since 2014, the focus has been on consolidating public finances, in addition to keeping inflation low. While macroeconomic stability is a necessary precondition for growth, the question is whether Serbia can do more to create a pro-growth environment. Serbia has succeeded in keeping inflation low over recent years; the current account deficit (CAD) is now low enough to be manageable and is almost entirely financed by non-debt-creating flows; large fiscal deficits have been converted to a surplus; and public debt is heading downward. However, growth is still meager. To ensure that the Serbian economy grows more quickly, the focus should be on increasing investment—both private and public.
format	Report
author	World Bank
author_facet	World Bank
author_sort	World Bank
title	Serbia’s New Growth Agenda : Investment for Growth
title_short	Serbia’s New Growth Agenda : Investment for Growth
title_full	Serbia’s New Growth Agenda : Investment for Growth
title_fullStr	Serbia’s New Growth Agenda : Investment for Growth
title_full_unstemmed	Serbia’s New Growth Agenda : Investment for Growth
title_sort	serbia’s new growth agenda : investment for growth
publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate	2020
url	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/842791585547764962/Serbia-s-New-Growth-Agenda-Country-Economic-Memorandum-Investment-for-Growth http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33565
_version_	1764479037486399488

Serbia’s New Growth Agenda : Investment for Growth

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