August 22 (SeeNews) - Serbia's prime minister Ana Brnabic has said she expects the country's economic growth to slow to 2.5% in 2017 from 2.7% last year, due to the negative effects of drought.
The Serbian government has adopted short-term measures that could partially offset the impact of this year's drought by contributing between 0.2% and 0.3% to the 2017 GDP growth rate, Brnabic said in a statement on Monday.
All other economic indicators are very good, with exports rising between 10% and 12% and manufacturing industry expanding by 6%, Brnabic added.
The government is currently analysing a potential reduction of the earnings tax and an increase of wages in the public sector, pensions and the minimum wage in 2018, Brnabic said in a video file posted on the website of Serbian news agency Tanjug on Monday.
The Serbian economy expanded by a real 1.3% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2017, the country's statistical office said in a flash estimate earlier this month.
Serbia’s GDP growth slowed to 1.2% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2017, from 2.5% in the previous quarter.