Soon after it is finished, the motorway will become a generator of the economic growth. We will be surprised at how much it will contribute to the GDP growth. Tourism in Montenegro is at its fresh start. Today we have just a couple of world-renowned hotels. Major part of our coast is untouched. Skadar Lake is not valorized enough. Rijeka Crnojevića too. And tourism is the economy of all economies, says in the interview for “Vikend novine”, Predrag Drecun, economic analyst.
The conversation with Drecun, former minister and member of the parliament, didn’t refer to economic topics only. He also spoke about politics, relations between Montenegro and Serbia, causes of divisions… Speaking of that, Drecun says that it’s a “historical sin to annul the state of Balšić, Crnojević, Petrović”.
Asked to give his opinion about the work of the Government, he said that it proposed laws without the opposition being present, and that’s an aggravating circumstance.
“The Government is maintaining good tempo towards the EU, and now, after NATO accession, it can even accelerate it. Macroeconomic relations have been curbed in the frameworks that seem to be better than in many other EU countries. Unemployment rate is officially decreasing. Dozens of thousands of kilometers of roads have been reconstructed. So, we can say that the Government was active. Reform and the rationalization of administration are still active processes. I’m not an expert for state administration, therefore, I won’t judge the work of the departments. But, as an average citizen, I’d like that process to go faster”, says Drecun.
“GDP growth rate is among the highest in the region. Public debt is below 70% of GDP, and that’s pretty good ratio. I have to point out that minister Radunović “packed” the public expenditure to fit into these proportions really well. Minister Sekulić is doing a great job in enhancing the importance of energy and creating conditions for the development philosophy of the energy sector, since the electricity trade through the submarine cable, to Italy is going to start soon”, says Drecun.
As he said, minister Simović is directing the agriculture towards to the track of priorities of the future of Montenegro. However, the resistance of the numerous established hubs of non-liberal economic structures is fierce. They don’t see agriculture as a perspective, but rather as an economy of services.
As far as the foreign policy is concerned, Drecun says that it seems balanced, but it’s quite intense and not sufficiently covered by the media.
“The greatest limitations lie in our collective mentality that responds slowly to the rules of the systemic approach to the reality”, said Drecun.
Drecun thinks that the Government mostly dealt with recovering from the consequences of the problems, instead of dealing with their causes.
“I can understand that approach, because the fires must be extinguished. But I also think that causes of our problems should be in the focus. I think that this Government, just like any other before this one, since 1990, failed to do one important thing – to develop the strategy of reducing foreign trade deficit. Do we really have to import 500 million EUR of food from the neighboring states? Instead of selling to the tourists our own tomato, and our won wheat, water and prosciutto, we import all that, resell it, earn a little bit. Instead of exporting our products through tourism, we’re strengthening the competition through tourism. I think it’s utterly irresponsible. Our challenge is that we change ourselves. To reconsider our economic philosophy, to turn to our own resources and their affirmation and to leave the values of neoliberal concept to the history. The main challenge, however, is to tame the foreign trade deficit”, concludes Drecun.
