Government adopts 2024 Budget Bill

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The Serbian Government adopted the 2024 Budget Bill, which foresees total revenues in the state treasury in the amount of 2,040.9 billion dinars (1 euro – 117 dinars), which is 7.2 percent more in relation to the revenues provided by the 2023 budget revision.

“The proposed budget is focused on development, which implies the continuation of high investments in capital projects, the construction of highways, high-speed railways, schools, hospitals, the policy of increasing salaries and pensions, as well as building the country and protecting the living standards of citizens,” said the Government in a press release.

The bill envisages a fiscal budget deficit of 197 billion dinars, which is 2.2 percent of GDP and is lower than the planned deficit for this year, which was projected at 2.8 percent of GDP by the budget revision.

“The projected economic growth rate for 2024, according to the Ministry of Finance, is 3.5 percent of GDP. The public debt of the state sector is projected at 51.7 percent of GDP in 2024, which is far less than the 60 percent allowed by the Maastricht agreement,” said the Government.

The medium-term fiscal framework envisages a gradual reduction in deficit of the state sector to the level of 1.5 percent of GDP in 2026 and a decrease in the share of public debt to 50 percent of GDP.

“The budget bill foresees that, starting 1 January 2024, pensions in Serbia will be higher by 14.8 percent, wages in the public sector by 10 percent, and the minimum wage by 17.8 percent,” said the press release.

In order to avoid the burden of increasing the minimum wage falling fully on employers, it is planned to increase the non-taxable part of the gross salary by 15.1 percent as of 1 January 2024, said the Government.

At the level of the state sector, 598.8 billion dinars, or 6.8 percent of GDP, have been earmarked for capital investments.