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"Serbia emerging from crisis"

He said this was based on "all indicators that show that the country is coming out of the crisis and heading toward stable economic growth". At a meeting organized by the Foreign Investors Council, Cvetković said that the government intends to gradually abandon emergency measures by end of the year. The prime minister stressed that in the post-crisis period the government will focus on creating jobs and improving living standards. According to him, Serbia started on the road of economic recovery in early 2010, but the economy has yet to reach pre-crisis levels. Cvetković said that the most serious problem is the unemployment rate, currently at 19.2 percent, and that new investments in Serbia are expected to create jobs. There has been a huge increase in exports with moderate growth in imports, and this positive trend has driven the export/import coverage ratio to 65 percent, the prime minister said. He stressed that in addition to making Serbia more attractive to investors, the government will take care of the most vulnerable social groups without jeopardizing macroeconomic stability. VAT increase highly unlikely Mirko Cvetković stated on Friday that it was "highly unlikely" that the taxation of demand, i.e., a VAT hike, would be implemented in the near future. "At the point when we are still hostages of demand deficit, further taxation of demand may cause us to return to the crisis situation, that is it may affect the economy," Cvetković said. The prime minister added that this was the reason why it was unlikely that the VAT increase would be directly implemented, adding that the issue was being seriously considered and that it would certainly be a part of a long-term economic strategy for the country's development. Cvetković said that the strategy, which is to be implemented from 2010-2020, is to be adopted in September. Source: Tanjug