In addressing the media MFIC President, Mr. Christoph Schoen stated that we are looking back on year which was very successful in terms of economic recovery. Although tourism was the main reason for the historic recession of over 15% during 2020, it is now the driver for the GDP recovery of almost 11% in 2021. In this context, it is fair to say that the crises management of the Government and the CBCG was highly professional, effective and strong enough to support the recovery.
In addition to that the central Government revenues performed better than planned primarily due to stronger collection of value added tax (VAT) and non-tax revenues. In this context, it is worth mentioning the Law on Electronic Fiscalization, which came into force in June this year, and where we are expecting further positive impacts from VAT collection and suppressing grey economy, highlighted Schoen.
Mr. Schoen has also highlighted that there are also more positive initiatives, for example the support credit lines for banks, the establishment of the Credit Guarantee Fund and last but not least the “Evropa sad” program. Even though many questions are still to be answered and the dynamics of implementation is to be defined but I do believe that the potential benefits are absolutely justifying the risks involved.
Nevertheless, I also must address in this context the importance for timely inclusion and proactive communication with the business associations. The ongoing political turbulences can no longer be taken as an explanation for missing communication with the international business community when it comes to the implementation of crucial reforms and legislation in order to support the ambitious EU accession plan. We have a lot of reasons to be optimistic given the progress we have seen this year, but there is still a lot in front of us where we need close alignment with all stakeholders, emphasized Schoen.
Mr. Schoen concluded that the MFIC is therefore also not only strongly supporting a constructive dialogue between all political parties but reinforcing our offer to actively participate and contribute in the process of economic reforms for the benefit of all citizens and businesses.
Deputy Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic has said that foreign investors who would like to do business in Montenegro in a fair way are very welcome, adding that the Government plans to eliminate all negative aspects in that field that create the atmosphere of general insecurity.
He said at the Annual Assembly meeting of the Montenegrin Foreign Investors Council (MFIC) that the Government’s ambition was to create the environment where everybody would like to do business in a fair manner and able to do so easily, following relevant procedures.
We need to tackle all types of negativity together, from corruption to preferential treatment, which create the environment of general insecurity, and strive towards the rule of law as a country in which investors will enjoy a greater security than before, Abazovic said.
He added that it was necessary to create a much more predictable business climate than Montenegro used to have.
Minister of Economic Development, Jakov Milatovic said that the Government had exceeded its expectations for this year.
In December 2020, we had seen a decrease in activities of 15 percent of GDP, which we turned into the fastest economic growth in Europe of 14 percent in 12 months, said Milatovic.
He added that the deficit would amount to two to three percent of GDP in 2021, whereas it had reached 11 percent last year.
