July 5 (SeeNews) - Serbia's economy is still overburdened by a large and inefficient public sector and efforts are needed to focus it on the productive private sector, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission to Belgrade, James Roaf, said on Wednesday.
Serbia is improving its position in the rankings of economic and business surveys, but what is needed is an improvement in tax administration, the system of public fees and charges and ensuring a more efficient, transparent and predictable judiciary system, Roaf said in a video file posted on the website of Serbian news agency Tanjug.
It is time for Serbia to consider updating the fiscal regulatory framework, while the use of the dinar should be strengthened more with the support of the Serbian central bank, the NBS, Roaf said after a meeting with Serbia's finance minister, Dusan Vujovic, and NBS governor, Jorgovanka Tabakovic.
"Our discussions also treated the issue of strengthening the economic institutions in Serbia," Roaf said.
The grey economy in Serbia should be addressed through the forceful implementation of the strategy of the authorities to combat it, while the large infrastructure gaps in Serbia also need to be reduced, he noted.
"The government and NBS have achieved a dramatic and massive strengthening of the Serbian economy. From a position where we had five years of stagnant growth and unsustainable fiscal position, high non-performing loans (NPLs) in a number of banks, now we see a major turnaround in the economic performance," Roaf said.
An IMF mission visited Belgrade during June 22-July 4 for the seventh review of Serbia's IMF-supported funding programme.
The IMF said in April it expects Serbia’s economy to expand by a real 3.0% in 2017, up from its October forecast of 2.8% growth. The growth of Serbia's gross domestic product (GDP) is seen at 3.5% in 2018, the IMF said in the April edition of its World Economic Outlook report.