Monday, 7 December 2020

Ninth Sitting of the Committee on Finance, State Budget and Control of Public Spending

At the sitting held on 7 December 2020, the members of the Committee on Finance, State Budget and Control of Public Spending considered, in principle, the bills on the agenda of the Sixth Sitting of the Second Regular Session of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia in 2020.


The Committee members considered the following:

  1. Republic of Serbia 2021 Budget Bill, with its accompanying Proposal of the Decision to grant consent to the Republic Pension and Disability Insurance Fund 2021 Financial Plan, Proposal of the Decision to grant consent to the Republic Health Insurance Fund 2021 Financial Plan, Proposal of the Decision to grant consent to the Fund for Social Insurance of Military Insured 2021 Financial Plan and the Proposal of the Decision to grant consent to the National Employment Service 2021 Financial Plan, submitted by the Government;
  2. Bill on the Republic of Serbia 2019 Budget Final Financial Statement, submitted by the Government;
  3. Bill amending and modifying the Budget System Law, submitted by the Government;
  4. Bill amending and modifying the Public Debt Law, submitted by the Government, and
  5. Bill of Giving Guarantees of the Republic of Serbia for the UniCredit Bank Srbija a.d. Beograd for Payment of Liabilities of the Public Company „Skijalista Srbije” Beograd on Long Term Investment Loan Agreement for the Construction of Brzece-Mali Karaman Gondola, submitted by the Government.
The Committee members also included one more item onto the agenda, item six - Proposal of the Decision to grant consent to the Decision amending and modifying the Republic Pension and Disability Insurance Fund 2020 Financial Plan.

The bills were presented by Minister of Finance Sinisa Mali, the President of the Fiscal Council Pavle Petrovic, Governor of the National Bank of Serbia Jorgovanka Tabakovic and the Director of the Republic Statistical Office Miladin Kovacevic.

At the very beginning of the sitting, Sinisa Mali pointed out that, due to the current situation caused by the Corona virus, the Government of the Republic of Serbia had, together with the National Bank of Serbia, reacted decisively and correctly with an excellent package of economic measures. He reminded the attending that the state provided three minimum wages to help businessmen throughout Serbia, paid in full, followed by the payment of two minimum wages in the amount of 60%, as well as a postponed the payment of taxes and contributions for a month.

He added that medical personnel has received a 10% salary increase in April, the oldest citizens received a one-time assistance of 4,000 RSD, and all adult citizens of Serbia, who wanted it, received a one-time assistance in the amount of 100 EUR.

Sinisa Mali informed the Committee members that pensioners will receive a one-time assistance in the amount of 5,000 RSD on December 17 and 18 of the year, and spoke of the planned assistance for caterers, tourist workers, guides, hoteliers and car rental workers in the form of one minimum wage, making the total financial assistance exceed 700 million RSD.

The Minister of Finance also spoke of a pay rise planned for the public sector in January next year viz. 5% percent for medical personnel and 3.5% for employees in other public sectors, with an additional increase of 1.5% in April.

He also mentioned a planned 6.6% increase in minimum wage from 1 January across Serbia, as well as an increase of 5.9% for pensioners.

He stated that the Government of Serbia is committed to raising the living standards of Serbian citizens and the implementation of the Serbia 2020-2025 project, which includes 14 billion EUR of additional investments in infrastructure, road, railway, healthcare, education and subway construction in Belgrade, adding that the goal of the project is for the average pension to reach the amount of 430 EUR by the end of 2025 and average salary 900 EUR.

The Minister of Finance said that a growth of 6% is planned for next year, as well as significant capital investments, and the total revenues and incomes projected in the budget amount to 1,336,323,614,000, which is an increase of 3.5% compared to the 2020 budget rebalance, while the total expenditures are 1,483,045,414,000, which is a 15% reduction compared to the budget rebalance.

In the course of the sitting, the Committee members submitted an amendment to Article 1 of the Bill amending and modifying the Budget System Law and proposed that the National Assembly accept the Bill in principle, with said amendment accepted at the sitting by Sinisa Mali as representative of the submitter.

Following a constructive debate the Committee members proposed that the National Assembly accept, in principle, the Republic of Serbia 2021 Budget Bill, with its accompanying Proposal of the Decision to grant consent to the Republic Pension and Disability Insurance Fund 2021 Financial Plan, Proposal of the Decision to grant consent to the Republic Health Insurance Fund 2021 Financial Plan, Proposal of the Decision to grant consent to the Fund for Social Insurance of Military Insured 2021 Financial Plan and the Proposal of the Decision to grant consent to the National Employment Service 2021 Financial Plan, submitted by the Government.

The Bill on the Republic of Serbia 2019 Budget Final Financial Statement, submitted by the Government, was presented by the President of the State Audit Institution Dr Dusko Pejovic and Minister of Finance Sinisa Mali. The Committee members proposed, by majority vote, that the National Assembly accept the Bill in principle.

In the continuation of the sitting the Committee proposed, by majority vote, that the National Assembly accept the rest of the bills on the agenda.

The sitting was chaired by Committee Chairperson Dr Aleksandra Tomic and attended by the following Committee members and deputy members: Veroljub Arsic, Zoran Bojanic, Nikola Jolovic, Dusko Tarbuk, Olivera Pesic, Sonja Vlahovic, Goran Kovacevic, Boban Birmancevic, Bratimir Vasiljevic, Zoran Tomic, Ana Carapic, Vojislav Vujic and Milorad Mijatovic. The sitting was also attended by the following MPs who are not memebrs of the Committee: Natasa Jovanovic, Branimir Jovanovic, Milijana Sakic, Olja Petrovic, Djordje Milicevic and Ljubomir Maric.


Committees related to this activity



Previous month Next month
M T W T F S S
26 27 28 29 1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30 31
friday, 29 march
  • 9.00 - the National Assembly Speaker meets with the Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia (National Assembly House, 13 Nikola Pasic Square, Speaker’s Cabinet)

Full event calendar