The first reactions to the budget proposed by the Government are coming. The recent finance minister, Aleksandar Damjanovic, has minor complaints, but also high expectations. To begin with, it’s deleveraging and reducing the share of debt in GDP. The Government’s plan to take on debt exclusively for capital projects is a good step, experts say. The budget could not be better at this moment, analysts claim.
The 2024 Budget projected at €3.4bn does not deviate much from the draft left by the previous government, says former finance minister Aleksandar Damjanovic.
Nikola Martinovic from the Faculty of Economics says that the golden rule of public finance is that borrowing for capital projects and infrastructure brings benefits. However, he still cannot say with certainty whether the budget plan is good for now or not. Time will tell, he points out.
Economic analyst Predrag Drecun praises the budget proposal. He says that it is the first budget after a long period that has a vision of what will happen in the next 4 years.
“I think that based on what I heard yesterday, based on the elementary assumptions that the borrowing will not be for the purpose of increasing consumption, this is a good budget, this is the best budget that could be made at this moment”, says Drecun.
