Montenegro has entered this year with positive, considerable economic flywheel. Therefore, in the forthcoming period we can expect the same. I believe that GDP growth rate will be approximately the same as it was last year, if not the same, says Professor of the Faculty of Economics and the President of the Association of Economists of Montenegro, Professor Božo Mihailović.
He says with great pleasure that his projections for 2018 turned out to be true. He pointed out that all economic parameters last year had been very positive.
“The industry had grown by 24%, as well as construction building, tourism… Very significant progress has been made in agriculture. Also, I’ll remind you that FDI amounted €330 million last year. In the first two months of this year, economic growth rate has increased by 3% in comparison to the same period last year”, says Professor Mihailović.
Speaking about the cases of Atlas and Invest Banks, Professor says that it’s not good.
“However, these negative events haven’t endangered the rating of the Central Bank of Montenegro. They haven’t affected the financial flows in a wider context. Well known credit rating agency, Standard and Poor’s, has stated in its most recent report that the rating of Montenegro is stable, and that’s very important to notice. In addition, this year we have recorded increase in deposits and loans. Therefore, financial system in Montenegro is stable, and, in my opinion, it won’t be endangered”, says Professor Mihailović.
Being a small economy, Montenegro will always be prone to greater challenges and problems than bigger economies will.
“Generally, the crisis can’t skip us. All we can do, is keeping track of everything from the economic point of view and act in due time. Also, we have to do our best to keep foreign investors present. A foreign investor doesn’t like any negative events. Another problem is our structural unemployment. Debts, as well. Unfavorable import-export ratio, different domestic obstructions… So, there are challenges and there will be, but we definitely can tackle them”, explains Professor Mihailović.
As Professor says, investments must be in agriculture, tourism and energy and in connecting agriculture and tourism.
“No further debts for consumption, and what’s even more important, smart servicing of public debt”.
As far as the highway is concerned, the most important thing is that it will be finished.
“This project really deserves to be called “the project of the century”. It’s easy to criticize, this undertaking required guts. This will be a very important drive of economic and social development of Montenegro”, says Professor Mihailović.
One of the decisions that was gladly accepted by the citizens, was making Sunday a day off. Professor Mihailović thinks this should have been done even earlier.
“Trade sector mostly consists of women as its workforce. They are mothers that need at least one free day to spend it with their children. This is an extremely clever move”, said Professor.
Concession Act regarding the Airports of Montenegro… nothing new yet.
“It’s a very complex decision, with strong multiplicative consequences. Therefore, as I said earlier, everything must be analyzed thoroughly, we must learn form others’ mistakes. We have got two airports, not twenty-two. And these two airports are the core of out tourism, and Montenegrin economy. That’s why I don’t agree with fast solutions. We need professional public to intervene into the decision-making process”, says he.
Asked about the current protests and to what extent they can impact the FDI inflow and the tourism season, Professor said that he didn’t mind citizens expressing their attitudes.
“A citizen’s voice is good to be heard. However, a lot of energy is being wasted, and that can’t produce positive economic effects. I’ll say it again, protests don’t bother me, but in a situation like this, we can’t let some economic destruction happen. That’s my message, from the professional point of view. Besides, it can have negative consequences for foreign investors. Every foreign investor will go where he/she sees two parameters: profitability and safety. We must be very careful. We had a great winter season, and a great summer season is expected and I think that we should keep what is good”, concluded Professor Mihailović.
