BELGRADE, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Montenegro's Prime Minister Dusko Markovic said Wednesday increased investment activity together with good economic results in 2018 helped the country lower its deficit and unemployment rate.
In his address to the annual assembly of the Montenegrin Foreign Investors Council (MFIC), Markovic revealed that in the first nine months of 2018 the value of foreign direct investments increased by 48 percent in comparison to 2017, which helped Montenegro to employ 9,000 more people and cut the unemployment rate to 14.4 percent - a 4 percent drop compare to the end of 2017.
Describing the improvement in the country's business climate since his cabinet assumed office two years ago, he highlighted Montenegro's recovery from the "unfavorable context of high budget deficit and public debt as well as unfavorable regional and wider environment".
"Montenegro is in a momentum that leads to prosperity and future. Public finances are stabilized, we have macroeconomic stability, investment activity has increased. The achieved economic growth rate of 4.8 percent in the first half of the year is among the highest in the region and in Europe," Markovic said, according to a government press release.
He estimated that this year's growth "cannot be less than 4.1 percent, even in the most pessimistic projections".
Markovic stressed that the government has improved efficiency of the budget revenue collection, and estimated that that additional money in the budget will at the end of the year reflect on the decrease of deficit - from 5.7 at the end 2017 - to 3.2 percent in 2018.
Finally, he announced further progress for Montenegro in European integration process, as the country aims to open the Chapter 27 of the European integration acquis dealing with environmental protection this December and thus raise the total number of opened accession chapters to 32.
