Although FDI has continued to pour in, the reality with Serbian government expenditure has yet to catch up, with the country noting a budget deficit of DIN 3 bln for the January-February period, according to the Serbian Ministry of Finance.
That said, the deficit was not seen as bad news, as this was dramatic improvement over the similar period in 2022, which saw the deficit hit DIN 52.9 bln.
This was largely on the back of a 16.9 percent increase in budget revenues Y/o/Y, which was paired with a 3.1-percent reduction in expenditure, according to the ministry.
That said, February saw a downturn with regard to the defict, with this falling from DIN 6.1 bln in the black to a deficit of DIN 9.1 bln.
Still, the two month period saw benefits in part from taxpayers and also the EU. Tax revenues also increased 9 percent to DIN 238.7 bln, with the government bolstered by grants of DIN 18.9 bln and non-tax revenues of DIN 23.2 bln.
Serbia has also benefited from a marked increase in FDI, with the Ministry having previously announced that January to March 20 figure hit a whopping EUR 693 mln, a record for that time-frame.
Photo of Serbia Ministry of Finance Telamons by Gmihail at Serbian Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 RS <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/rs/deed.en>, via Wikimedia Commons.
