March 12 (SeeNews) - Serbia's government has decided to invest an additional 24 billion dinars ($227 million/204 million euro) in infrastructure projects in a bid to mitigate the risks of the coronavirus crisis on the country's economic growth, prime minister Ana Brnabic said on Thursday.
"Yesterday [on Wednesday], we decided to invest additional 24 billion dinars in capital projects, that is, infrastructure, in order to boost economic growth and at the same time accelerate the implementation of the 'Serbia 2025' investment programme," Ana Brnabic told a news conference broadcast live on the YouTube channel of news agency Tanjug.
Serbia's government has improved its fiscal discipline in the last years and has already prepared the technical documentation for some infrastructure projects, so it can immediately proceed with the launch of tenders and signing of agreements with contractors, Brnabic said.
"The additional investment will soften the effects of the coronavirus crisis on the Serbian economic growth," she added.
In December, Brnabic said Serbia's government plans to make investments worth 14 billion euro ($15.7 billion) to stimulate the country's economic growth by 2025. The investments will be financed from the budget, but also through loans from international financial institutions, Brnabic said during a presentation of the "Serbia 2025" investment programme.
(1 euro = 0.897043 euro)