BELGRADE, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Serbian government on Saturday adopted a new budget proposal for 2020, which aims to further stimulate economic development with the key focus on reducing unemployment, said Finance Minister Sinisa Mali.
According to a government's press release, Mali said that the new budget envisages continuation of important infrastructural projects, construction of environment protection infrastructure, investments in innovation and science.
The new budget envisages a projected deficit of 20.2 billion RSD (192 million U.S. dollars), which amounts to 0.3 percent of GDP, the press release said.
The finance minister said that reducing unemployment would be the strategic aim of the government, announcing a change in legislature that will allow tax exemptions for companies that employ a person that was registered as unemployed for the past 12 months.
Mali said that the plan is to bring unemployment within EU average. According to him, Serbia will exceed planed 3.5 percent budget growth this year, while the projected growth for next one remains 4.0 percent.
The public debt will according to projections amount to 50.3 percent of the GDP by the end of 2020.
