Future Serbian Finance Minister Lazar Krstić stated that Serbia must implement unpopular and painful economic measures, starting from limiting the expenses of state budget users to restrictive cuts of unnecessary budget incentives that burden the state treasury.
Krstić (29), a graduate of the prestigious American university Yale and a consultant at the New York consulting firm McKinsey, confirmed to Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) that he is joining the government at the invitation of Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Serbian Progressive Party Aleksandar Vučić, emphasizing that he expects full government support for the measures he plans to implement.
Announcing strict measures to organize state finances, Krstić highlighted that Serbia must tighten its belt and that he will implement some measures that will not be popular, but that the first results could be visible very quickly. On the list of obligations and intentions, Krstić emphasized the realization of a new budget rebalance and, in parallel, the preparation of the state budget for 2014 with the application of strategic reforms, as well as a potential restructuring of the tax system.
– Work will be done on several fronts, first there will be an increase in budget revenues… On the expenditure side, we will simply have to limit the costs of budget users and subsidies for public enterprises, which are a huge expense in the budget – announced Krstić, emphasizing that nothing will be done hastily, but that there will be no exceptions as the principle will be applied that everyone will have to respect.
