Overview
- Economic growth in Q1 19 (7.2%) and Q2 19 (6.5%) significantly higher than expected
- Budget surplus in 7M2019 due to high revenues & under execution of capital expenditures
- Inflation forecast for 2019 at 2.1%; low inflation key ingredient of macroeconomic stability
» Stable macroeconomic situation
- Significant jump of current account deficit in 2018 to 9.4% of GDP; quite high
- FDI only at 2.1% in 2018, not sufficient for financing the current account deficit
- Imports (+21.4%) increased much stronger than exports (+7.8%) in 2018
» Export promotion and FDI attraction key for external stability
- Mid term fiscal consolidation: budget deficit ≈ 2% and central gov debt < 50% of GDP
- At the same time: lower tax rates and higher expenditures on social & investment planned
» Ambitious mid term fiscal plans
Special topics
- Recent political events
- Fight against corruption
- Energy: challenges and government plans
- FDI attraction: focus on most promising target groups and institutional framework