Opposition Party: Local Budgets 20 to 30 Percent Lower than Last Year

Budget, dinars, euros

The Serbia Center party said in a press release on Feb. 5 that the budgets of a large number of local governments were 20 to 30 percent lower than in 2024, adding that the attitude of the national authorities to local administrations was increasingly worse.

The party's press release noted that the 2025 local budgets were at best on a par with 2024's and that a large number of them was 20 to 30 percent lower, pointing out that the funding for Expo 27 and the national stadium doubled.

"If we take into account inflation in 2024 and the certain inflation in 2025, increased minimum wage, the 8.5-percent raise in earnings in the public sector, it is not difficult to conclude that local governments will not have sufficient funds even to pay public administration and institution employees, let alone invest in or develop local administrations," the party's press release read.

The statement added that this attitude from the national authorities to local administrations resulted in the decline of local governments, poverty and people leaving for larger cities or abroad because they lack basic living conditions. "Out of 174 local administration units in Serbia, 44 were in the category of very underdeveloped in 2024 , with a development level of under 60 percent of the national average," the statement read.