QUARTERLY MONITOR of economic trends and policies in Serbia October-December 2005

Viewed from a distance of a few months, the Serbian economy seems to have spent 2005 limbering up for a race. Everything appears to indicate a new surge, and this time it cannot be ascribed to only a few major "culprits." It now appears that the growth is from the roots.

But, if the populist economic policy that recently came to the fore persists, the economy may have breath enough only for a short sprint. Specifically, the Minister of Finance has announced a significant reduction of the fiscal burden on wages and salaries - from 73% to 60% - and the use of the expected privatization revenue of some one bn euros for public investments.

Without going into the motives for the announced fiscal policy, we point to five misconceptions on which it rests.

Quarterly Montor, complete document, download (.pdf) (5.62 MB):

Quarterly Monitor by the chapters, download:

Impressum, Tables of Contents, From the Editor (.pdf) (211 kB).

Trends-Review (.pdf) (88.4kB).

Trends-International Environment (.pdf) (199 kB).

Trends-Prices and Exchange Rates (.pdf) (474 kB).

Trends-Economic Growth (.pdf) (256 kB).

Trends-Balance of Payments and Foreign Trade (.pdf) (527 kB).

Trends-Fiscal Flows and Policy (.pdf) (364 kB).

Trends-Monetary Flows and Policy (.pdf) (870 kB).

Trends-Financial Markets (.pdf) (304 kB).

Spotlight 1-Regestered Employment and Wages, Stat. Data and Trends, 2000-2005 (.pdf) (606 kB).

Spotlight 2-Investment in Serbia (.pdf) (194 kB).

Spotlight 3-Performance of the Serbian Oil Company (NIS) (.pdf) (452 kB).

Analytical Appendix (.pdf) (1.96 MB).

Analytical Anex of the Text "Under Spotlight 3" (.pdf) (140 kB).