Subsidies Being Handed for the Third Time, Even to Those Who Do Not Really Need Them

Kori Udovicki(Photo:Print Screen You Tube)

Center for Advanced Economic Studies (CEVES) President Kori Udovicki said on March 22 that for the third time since March 2020 subsidies were being given to everyone in Serbia, and to a greater extent to those who needed them less or not at all.

"Just around one eighth of the planned subsidies, defined in February 2021, will go to the most vulnerable group of businesses," said Udovicki, adding that "primarily the political implications of the health measures and the political implications of the increasingly likely implosion of the health care system are on the scale."

Udovicki said that "they are being weighed by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic himself, while for nuanced and complex economic or health measures a whole host of public bodies and organizations would have to do their job autonomously, therefore responsibly and professionally." However, she added that it was not possible if they were waiting for a sign from the president, to know what they should actually do.

In her words, the political factor plays an important role in decisions on lockdowns, because governments do not like demonstrations and they do not help in controlling the epidemic, but the problem is that in Serbia "the political factor plays the dominant role precisely because one man makes the decisions."