Vucic: Q1 growth rate to be down to 2.1-2.2 pct due to blockades

NOVI SAD - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Tuesday he believed Serbia's Q1 2025 GDP growth rate would be down to 2.1-2.2 pct as a result of blockades in the country and that the services sector was seeing a decline for the same reason.

"It will take a lot to reach 3.5-3.6 pct (growth), which is still less than what we planned to have by the end of the year. The consequences of the crime committed against Serbia in the past six months are grave but, alright, you have to go through all that, you have to survive and keep working and building," Vucic told reporters while inspecting the construction works on the exit portal of the Iriski venac tunnel.

The 7,007 m tunnel is a part of a project to build an expressway that will connect Novi Sad and Ruma.

Vucic said industrial production and, especially, the manufacturing industry, were doing well but that, above all, services were down due to the crisis caused by blockaders.

"The hospitality and tourism industries are seeing a huge decline in services - our tourism saw a 22.8 pct drop in the first three months (of 2025), which is a direct consequence of the criminal blockades and the criminal destruction of Serbia, both from the outside and from within. That is creating enormous problems for us," Vucic said.