May 30 (SeeNews) - Serbia's new finance minister, Sinisa Mali, said he will aim to reduce the central government debt-to-GDP ratio to below 50% in 2019.
"We will have stable public finances but my objective is to ensure money for all development projects, for investments in new infrastructure, new factories, new jobs, reduction of unemployment," Mali said in an interview broadcast live by public television RTS late on Tuesday.
Earlier that day, Serbia's parliament endorsed the nomination of Mali, the incumbent mayor of Belgrade, as new finance minister. Mali replaced Dusan Vujovic who resigned earlier this month citing personal reasons.
The responsible fiscal policy of the government led by prime minister Aleksandar Vucic gives space for increasing the salaries in the public sector, Mali said.
"I believe that it is fair for all people who assumed the burden of the previous years to see the sense of reforms."
The government will hold talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in June on the potential increase of the salaries in the public sector, as encouraging consumption is crucial for Serbia's economic growth, Mali said.
"I will keep track of every dinar. The biggest challenge before me is to enable the highest rate of economic growth as possible," he added.
Mali was nominated for finance minister by prime minister Ana Brnabic on Friday.
"Mali has shown that he is a team player. Therefore, I believe that he is the most suitable candidate for the position of finance minister," Brnabic told parliament on Monday during the debate on the nomination of Mali.
OPPOSITION'S CONCERNS
During the debate, the opposition raised doubts about Mali's moral integrity, because he had been at the centre of several scandals, including participation in offshore companies and demolishing of buildings in downtown Belgrade in 2014 to make space for the construction of the Belgrade Waterfront luxury real estate complex.
The deputy chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDS), Marko Djurisic, said that Brnabic is the only prime minister in the world leading "a government that promotes offshore companies" and stressed that "the government is trying to whitewash the biography of Mali." Moreover, Djurisic accused Mali of corruption in the privatisation of oil company Beopetrol back in 2003, when he served as a senior official at the government's privatisation agency.
In her speech in parliament, Brnabic responded that she does not promote offshore firms. "I defend the young people who work in offshore companies," the prime minister said. The privatisation of Beopetrol was not controversial, as "there was a guarantee that was deactivated by the government back then," she explained.
In his TV interview Mali vowed to answer the criticism with results.
"The citizens of Belgrade have said what they think about the criticisms in the local elections in Belgrade. I will commit to solve the problems of Serbia with the same energy," Mali said.
The mandate of Mali as Belgrade mayor expires this month. Serbia's ruling conservative party SNS won 64 of 110 seats in the city parliament in the local elections held on March 4, according to the final official results.
MALI BIOGRAPHY
Mali was born on August 25, 1972, in Belgrade. He was named special advisor for economic and financial affairs to the prime minister of Serbia in 2001. Later, he served as director of the tender privatisations department in the privatisation agency of Serbia.
Mali obtained his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Belgrade, School of Economics, and as a Ron Brown scholar, he received an MBA in finance from the Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. In 2013, Mali defended his PhD thesis on “Value Creation through Restructuring and Privatization – the Experience of Serbia” at the Faculty of Organisational Sciences, University of Belgrade.
A member of the decision-making body of SNS, Mali officially took office as Belgrade mayor in April 2014. However, he has been at the helm of the city government since November 2013, when he was named chairman of a temporary council governing the city until the local elections in March 2014 following a motion of no confidence against former mayor Dragan Djilas.