Economists expect IMF to approve raising salaries and pensions in Serbia up to 4%

Economist Stojan Stamenkovic has stated that it is quite certain that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will agree that salaries in the public sector in Serbia be raised, most probably by 3-4%, as well as pensions.

– The exact percentage is hard to determine at the moment until the budget projection for the next year has been done. This will depend on the growth of the GDP – Stamenkovic said at the presentation of the latest issue of the Macroeconomic Analyses and Trends (MAT) magazine.

If next year’s GDP growth is 3%, as projected, salaries and pensions should be expected to be raised by more than 3-4%, Stamenkovic said. He added that the IMF would probably allow salaries to be raised by more than pensions.

– The pensioners have to do with what’s given to them, whereas, with salaries, it’s different because there are sensitive sectors such as healthcare and education, where the height of the salaries can cause certain problems – Stamenkovic estimated.

The IMF Mission is coming to Belgrade in the second half of October for a new review of the Arrangement with Serbia. It will consider, together with representatives of the Government, by how much salaries and pensions can be raised, since the budget deficit in 2016 is lower than planned, and further budget saving are expected in 2017.

The salaries in the public sector higher than RSD 25,000 were lowered, in line with the IMF Arrangement, by 10% in November 2014, and pensions by 22-25%.

In January 2016, salaries were raised by 4% and pensioners received a linear raise of 1.25%.

Međunarodni monetarni fond - MMF Beograd

IMF Washington D.C.

Stojan Stamenkovic

IMF

raising salaries in the public sector

salaries in the public sector

pensions

budget of Serbia

gross domestic product of Serbia

GDP of Serbia

Macroeconomic Analyses and Trends MAT

raising salaries