Program of economic measures to reduce the negative effects caused by the COVID-19 virus pandemic and support the economy of Serbia

• When formulating the measures, we were guided by international experience, i.e. measures adopted in developed economies and neighboring countries.
• Requirements presented in the proposals for measures by numerous associations that bring together businessmen were considered.

Previous measures of the Government of the RS and NBS:

• Increase the salaries of medical workers by 10% from 1. April,
• One-time assistance for pensioners in the amount of 4,000 dinars,
• Moratorium on loan repayments,
• Reduction of the reference interest rate by 0.5%, to the level of 1.75%.

The program of economic measures is the result of implemented reforms - our public debt is below 50% of GDP, we have had a budget surplus for four years, in Q4 In 2019, we had the highest economic growth in Europe (6.2%) 608.3 billion dinars (5.1 billion euros) - 11% of GDP and half of the annual budget of the Republic.

Four groups of economic measures:

1. Tax policy measures:
- Postponement of the payment of taxes on wages and contributions for the private sector, during the state of emergency, with later repayment of the obligation in installments starting from 2021 at the earliest.
- Postponement of the payment of advance income tax in the second quarter of this year.
- Exemption of donors from the obligation to pay VAT.

A TOTAL OF 161 BILLION DINARS

2. Direct aid to the private sector:

- Direct aid to entrepreneurs who are taxed flat-rate and who pay tax on real income, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in the private sector - payment of aid in the amount of the minimum wage for 900 thousand employees.

- Direct aid to large enterprises in the private sector, payment of aid in the amount of 50% of the net minimum wage for employees whose employment has been determined by decision (Articles 116 and 117 of the Law on work).

A TOTAL OF 97.3 BILLION DINARS

3. Measures to preserve liquidity
-Program of financial support to the economy of the Development Fund for entrepreneurs, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, agricultural holdings and cooperatives - 200 million euros
-Guarantee scheme for supporting the economy in the conditions of the Covid-19 crisis for loans to maintain liquidity and working capital for entrepreneurs, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, agricultural holdings, and through commercial banks.
The value of the guarantee scheme is 240 billion dinars.

4. Direct aid for citizens - 100 euros for all citizens of legal age - a total of 70 billion dinars.

The measures apply to all economic entities except those that:
• During the state of emergency reduced the number of employees by more than 10% (not counting fixed-term employees whose contract expires during the state of emergency)
• Temporarily stopped operations before the declaration of the state of emergency, i.e. before 15.03.2020.

Salaries in the public sector and pensions - safe and regular.
- Additional support for the most severely affected sectors,
- Support for large companies in the form of corporate bonds.

***If you have any questions regarding the measures, please write to one of the following e-mails:
ljiljana.markovic@rarei.rs , zorica.karavidic@rarei.rs , milos.milovanovic@rarei.rs.

We will immediately forward all your questions to colleagues from the Ministry of Economy so that they can to create an adequate list of questions and answers that will be available to everyone.