Serbia's PM expects govt debt to drop to 62% of GDP at end-2017 - report

Serbia has good economic indicators despite the problems in its agriculture and hydro power sectors caused by the drought and public debt will keep declining by the end of this year, Tanjug news agency quoted Brnabic as saying.

The GDP growth rate will be lower than 3% in 2017, chiefly due to unfavourable weather conditions such as the drought and the exceptionally cold winter that caused a decline in electricity production of thermal power plants, Brnabic said.

Serbia's central government debt decreased to 23.8 billion euro ($28.4 billion) at end-July from 24.8 billion euro at the end of December, according to finance ministry data. The debt was equivalent to 65.2% of the projected 2017 GDP at end-July, down from 73.0% at the end of 2016.

The country’s real GDP growth accelerated to 1.3% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2017, from 1.2% in the previous quarter.