Serbian Finance Minister Vujović Resigns for Personal Reasons

Serbian Finance Minister Dušan Vujović has resigned, and the decision to withdraw was made for personal reasons, it was announced on Tuesday in Belgrade, confirming media reports about his departure from the government.

– The Finance Minister in the Government of the Republic of Serbia Dušan Vujović has decided to step down from that position and has informed the Prime Minister, Ana Brnabić. The reasons for Minister Vujović’s withdrawal are of a personal nature, stated this morning in a statement from the Government of Serbia.

The news of the resignation was reported late last night, citing unofficial sources, by most Belgrade electronic media, stating that Vujović assessed that four years, the duration of his tenure in the finance sector, is “quite sufficient for a person to prove themselves in a public office.”

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In a written notice to the Prime Minister, Vujović assessed that during his mandate, “significant results were achieved regarding macroeconomic stabilization, fiscal consolidation, and structural reforms,” as stated in the announcement.

– Recognitions from reputable domestic and international financial institutions confirm these results, Vujović noted in his letter to the Prime Minister.

According to the Law on the Government, the Prime Minister must forward the minister’s resignation to the President of the Assembly of Serbia, Maja Gojković.

Vujović was Minister of Economy from April to August 2014, and then he was appointed Minister of Finance, leading that department during Aleksandar Vučić’s mandate until August 2016, and after government reconstructions until June 2017, and thereafter in Ana Brnabić’s team.

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He was considered one of the most knowledgeable and capable ministers in the government, and the magazine Global Market named him the Finance Minister of the Year for Central and Eastern Europe in 2017, noting that fiscal consolidation reversed the trend of rising public debt, which is now declining, after which Serbia achieved a budget surplus in 2016 after 10 years.

He was a long-time collaborator with the World Bank (WB) and head of the training program for staff from the economic ministries of transition countries from Eastern and Southern Europe, the former USSR, China, and Vietnam.

He worked as Serbia’s representative on the Board of Directors of the WB, led the WB program in Ukraine, and was one of the leading economists of the bank for Europe and Central Asia. Since 2011, he has worked as a consultant for the WB and USAID in the areas of innovation, budget reform, and public sector reform.

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He graduated, obtained a master’s degree, and earned a doctorate at the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade, and completed his postdoctoral studies at the American University of Berkeley.

According to information from the Kurir newspaper, Vujović could be succeeded as head of the finance department by the current Mayor of Belgrade, Siniša Mali, one of the trusted people of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.