Belgrade, Dec 30, 2003 - Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Zivkovic said on Tuesday that the state of Serbia currently has 24 billion dinars and around €150 million in deposits, adding that this will be the first time in decades that the state purse is this full at the beginning of a year.
Zivkovic told a press conference that 10 billion dinars are the funds of municipal governments, while the remaining 14 billion dinars are managed by the Serbian government and state funds.
Zivkovic also said that the government of late Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic was the best government in Serbia's history, and added that achievements of all future governments will be evaluated in relation to the reports on this government's work over the past three years.
According to Zivkovic, the biggest mistake of this government is its failure to get across the message about its achievements, adding that Serbia is in much better shape than the government has managed to present.
He recalled that this government, when it took office in January 2001, inherited a cash-strapped country, out of all global integrations and institutions, overburdened with both internal and external debts, with loss-making companies, high level of grey economy, corruption, smuggling, and an unwieldy and unprofessional public administration.
The prime minister said that wages in Serbia have grown by 65 percent since the first democratic government took office. He also said that pensions are now four times higher than in 2000, adding that inflation has been reduced to some 7 - 8 percent in 2003.
Zivkovic said that the health sector has been improved, and added that education reforms have been launched, accompanied by higher living standards of teachers.
Around one quarter of the entire road network in Serbia, or some 1,100 kilometres, has been reconstructed, said Zivkovic, adding that the works cost €80 million. He also said that another 850 kilometres of roads are targeted for construction in 2004, with a €22 million reconstruction of the Belgrade airport.
Zivkovic concluded that Serbia's citizens have a lot of reasons to be satisfied with the state of affairs in the country and to be optimistic on the future. According to him, if the new authorities achieve 25 percent of what the current government has done, it will be enough to ensure successful further recovery of Serbia.
