Minister Siniša Mali spoke with US Ambassador Anthony Godfrey
The Minister of Finance of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, Siniša Mali, met, today, with the new US Ambassador in Belgrade, Anthony H. Godfrey, whom he wished a welcome to Serbia and expressed hope that they would have a successful cooperation in the future.
Minister Siniša Mali pointed out that Serbia had completed an important process of fiscal consolidation, and that economic growth in the third quarter of this year had amounted to 4.7 percent. As he stated, he expects the projected growth rate of 3.5% to be exceeded by the end of the year. He also highlighted that Serbia had successfully issued a bond on the international financial market for the second time this year, and, thus, it had received the historically lowest interest rate and had, consequently, made millions of savings. Mali added that good economic results were also confirmed by international financial institutions.
Ambassador Godfrey praised the economic results that Serbia had achieved, adding that it is important that the country had been removed from the so-called “gray list” of the FATF since all requirements regarding combat against money laundering and prevention of the financing of terrorism had been fulfilled.
He emphasized that he hoped US investors would invest even more in Serbia, citing, as a good example, the “Behtel Company”, which is, within the consortium, building a Moravian corridor. As he pointed out, this is a signal to all other US companies that they can invest in Serbia.
Mali added that Serbia had attracted 2.3 billion euros of foreign direct investment in the first seven months of this year, which constituted 43 percent increase in comparison to the same period last year. He also pointed out that the “Financial Times” had declared Serbia a world record holder in attracting foreign investment.
Mali and Godfrey expressed their mutual expectation that they would have a good cooperation in the future.
