The budget for 2025 is adopted in the context of favorable economic circumstances for Serbia and the entire region of the Western Balkans. The total pie is increasing, but attention should be paid to issues of redistribution and transparency
Observed in percentage terms, Serbia records a more dynamic growth compared to the world average, the Eurozone, the United States of America and Russia. China remains the only relevant economy with a higher growth rate, exceeding four percent.
The main drivers of economic growth in Serbia are domestic consumption, which is encouraged by an expansive fiscal policy, easier access to credit and lower inflation, and in recent years investment consumption has also had a significant impact, which increased sharply after the pandemic, increasing from 3,3 percent to 7,4. 2025 percent of GDP in the period 2027–10. In comparison, the fund for pensions and salaries is between 11-XNUMX percent of GDP annually.
This growth strategy will continue in 2025. Economic growth is predicted to be 4,2 percent (the highest in the region), while inflation will be three percent. The budget for 2025, increased by 10,5 percent compared to the initial budget from 2024, is based on these foundations, which represents the starting point for the analysis of the increase and the discussion of public policy priorities.
Capital projects, such as EXPO2027 and the National Stadium, received significant increases of 19 and 55 percent in this budget compared to the 2024 budget. The actual increases will be clearer after the rebalancing, as was the case this year. The initial allocations for these projects are in accordance with the Fiscal Strategy, but are significantly increased in the rebalance. Such projects represent the basis of the Serbian economic development strategy because they generate value that affects the growth of the social product. However, although the Government sets ambitious goals for capital investments through the fiscal strategy, the precise sectoral distribution of these funds is missing. Areas such as transport, health, energy, education and ecology are mentioned, but there is no clear evaluation of public policy to set priorities. Additionally, the question of the long-term sustainability of these projects remains open: will EXPO and the National Stadium contribute to the economy in ten years in the way that a highway or subway can?
Already in absolute figures, it can be seen that capital projects are a priority because they contribute to GDP growth. For example, expenses for EXPO2027 exceed the budget of several "smaller" ministries together, while EXPO and the National Stadium together have a budget twice as large as the funds intended for the courts or even eight times larger than the funds for public prosecutions in the Republic of Serbia (see chart).
A linear increase of 10,5 percent for all sectors could mean maintaining the same priorities as in 2024. However, the Government highlighted certain budget users as "winners". Thus, teachers in primary and secondary schools will receive an increase of 11 percent compared to the 2024 budget, while the rest of the public sector will receive an increase of 8 percent. The Ministry of Education records a 20 percent increase compared to last year's budget. It is similar in the Ministry of Health. However, these increases seem more like a response to below-average investments and slow progress in these sectors.
The most significant gainer in the budget is the Ministry of Defense, whose funds have increased by 65 percent compared to the 2024 budget, placing it among the four largest budget users. The office for Kosovo and Metohija received an increase of almost 40 percent. These increases reflect the growing importance of security issues in both the regional and international contexts.
Some of the "losers", that is, those with half-average increases, include the Ministry of Social Affairs, whose funds increased by 8,1 percent, while funds for social protection increased by only 7,6 percent. Environmental protection received a linear increase of about 10 percent, while subsidies for this area were reduced.
The author is a professor at the FPN University in Belgrade
Arrests out of the blue, banishment from the country, beatings... All this happened to us in the last week alone. The Serbian Progressive Party, born from the foam left behind by their spiritual father Vojislav Šešelj, is returning to its roots. I can't escape from myself
"The levers of power are not in their hands," said Bishop Grigorije. "But there is something in the Holy Scriptures that I like very much, and that is that the power of God is revealed in weakness. So, all worldly power is on one side. And on the other side, in the hands of these young men and women is the weakness of this world. But in their weakness, the power of God or God's justice appears. That is why they are at such a great advantage."
The regime and its media have been trumpeting the "civil war" for months, and the government is the only one that has a patent for peace and stability - of course, with the help of the propaganda machine and the use of force. "It is a propaganda tactic of SNS that says: 'violence is everywhere, terrorists surround us, but we are here to save you,'" explains communication professor Jelena Kleut for "Vreme".
Students and citizens who accompany them on these walking feats, were welcomed as the most native together with those who came the day before from other places. A dove of peace was also released on the stage next to the promenade along the river - this symbolic gesture of the two students is the most impressive gesture of understanding and respect between the Bosniak and Serbian peoples since the end of the wars in the former Yugoslavia
The three-day parliament for the promotion of Aleksandar Vučić and his Movement for the People and the State was realistically a fiasco. But it was first of all conceived as a media spectacle for regime television directed by court promoter Željko "DJ Žeks" Mitrović, with scenography and iconography adapted to the Serbian political market.
Anyone who condemns the regime's targeting of people from the media, the non-governmental sector, the opposition and universities, must not agree to this targeting of RTS editors and journalists either.
The government of Đur Mazut is "counter-revolutionary", focused on retaliation and state and street violence against opponents of the regime
Depriving Dejan Ilić, an intellectual with an impeccable life and work biography, of his freedom, without the slightest meaningful reason, is just one of the brutal indicators that the regime has turned against its own citizens and is entering a phase of terror
Vučić and Šešelj: Where I stopped, you continue
The return of radical violence subscribeThe archive of the weekly Vreme includes all our digital editions, since the very beginning of our work. All issues can be downloaded in PDF format, by purchasing the digital edition, or you can read all available texts from the selected issue.
See all
