Vucic: According to IMF, Serbia could be European leader in growth rate next year

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Monday in Belgrade Serbia had registered the fourth-highest economic growth rate in Europe in Q1 2026 and could climb to the third position by the end of the year and added that, according to an IMF forecast, it could take the number one position next year.

"We must find new sources of growth and keep up with innovative technologies and artificial intelligence to further speed up the development of our economy," Vucic said after the opening of the 21st World Congress of the International Economic Association (IEA) at Sava centar, noting that, in Q1, only Denmark, Malta and Poland had been ahead of Serbia when it comes to growth rate.

"We expect to get into the top three by the end of the year because one of those countries is only 0.1 pct ahead of us. I believe that next year, in line with IMF forecasts, Serbia will be the number one country in terms of growth rate. That is what is important to us," Vucic noted.

Vucic: All assumptions that have shaped world economy are collapsing

BELGRADE - We live in a world where all assumptions that have shaped the world economy in the past 30 years are collapsing and that is why we must change, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Monday in Belgrade at the opening of the 21st World Congress of the International Economic Association (IEA).

"The topic of this year's congress is the global economic reality, a very current topic, because we live in a period in which various assumptions that have shaped the world economy in the past 30 years are collapsing. For decades, policy creators and economists have operated in an environment that seemed predictable: deeper integration, trade everywhere, lower barriers, a growing interdependency. Today, the world is interconnected, but also fragmented at the same time. That contradiction is at the core of the various challenges we face. The way we handle that will define whether we will be successful or not," Vucic said at Belgrade's Sava centar.

"If we look at Europe today, it is building its mechanisms to protect its economy and its industry and IT sector because other powers, the US and China, dominate the field of modern technologies and the high-tech industry," he said.

"Europe cannot keep up with such a market race," Vucic noted.

He added that, as he had listened to speakers at the 2021 World Economic Forum in Davos, he had realised that nothing would be the same in the future.

"If you look at the world today, let's say the EU officially had around 205 barriers in the services trade sector, and today it has 2,900. That is an enormous change, the world is completely different, but no one can stop and prevent countries that are faster, that have less bureaucracy, that can do the job quickly, without obstacles and efficiently and, simply, that is an alarm signal to all of us in Europe. By saying 'Europe' I also mean Serbia. We are lagging behind - behind China, the US - on various matters," Vucic said.

"We must change because, if we do not do that, the gap will widen," he noted.