BELGRADE (Serbia), May 11 (SeeNews) – Serbia may limit its gross domestic product (GDP) decline to about 2% in the second half of 2020, bringing full-year economic growth to 0%, the director of the country's statistical office, Miladin Kovacevic said.
"I expect that we will have an economic growth of 1% in the second quarter, minus 2% in the second half of the year, and about 0% for the entire year," Kovacevic said in a video file posted on the YouTube channel of news agency Sputnik on Friday.
Next year, Serbia's economic growth will be very strong due to the low base effect, Kovacevic also said
In his words, the reopening of the Volkswagen factories in Europe is very good news for Serbia, which is a large manufacturer of spare car parts.
Last month, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said the country's economy grew by 5% in the first quarter of 2020 despite the coronavirus crisis.
The World Bank said in April it expects Serbia's economy to shrink by 2.5% under a baseline scenario and by 5.3% in the worst-case scenario in 2020, due to the adverse effects of the pandemic of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).