In the quarterly report on economic trends in the candidate countries and potential candidates for EU membership, the European Commission states that in the first quarter of 2020, Serbia achieved a growth of GDP of 5.0%.
Behind Serbia are Montenegro (2.7), Bosnia and Herzegovina (2.0), Northern Macedonia (0.2) and Albania (-2.5). Serbia had higher GDP growth than Turkey, which achieved 4.5%.
The Commission points out that this year-on-year growth was equally due to an increase in gross investment, public and private spending, as well as a change in inventories. Growth in government spending accelerated, 12% year on year, while growth in gross fixed capital formation was 10.7%. The increase in household consumption remained mostly stable, at 3.2% on an annual basis.
The report also states that the unemployment rate of the population over the age of 15 remained stable at 9.7% in the first quarter of 2020, and that it decreased by 2.4% compared to last year and by approximately half compared to five years ago.
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