I deeply believe that we are on the verge of bankruptcy, we are rushing down the populist path towards something that will collapse. We only live for tonight, not for tomorrow and our posterity, said the representative of the Movement for Change Branko Radulović at yesterday's session of the Committee for the Economy, where the reports on the work of the Central Bank for 2019, 2020 and 2021 and the reports on the work of the Financial Stability Council for these three years were discussed.
He asked the Governor of the Central Bank (CBCG) Radoje Žugić whether he was meeting with the former finance minister Milojko Spajić, and whether they exchanged opinions on the Europe Now tax reform program and how much that reform affected the stability of state finances. The "Europe Now" program abolished the health insurance contribution and part of the wage tax from the beginning of this year, which affected the growth of net wages for all workers.
Radulović said that at that time he advocated for a gradual reduction of duties, which would accompany the growth of the economy.
Žugić replied that his opinion was in accordance with the then recommendations of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that the tax reform should be implemented gradually.
"If you don't have production growth and new values, then you finance the earnings growth from debt," said Žugić.
Speaking about the reports on the work of the Central Bank, Žugić stated that for these three years there has been an increase in all parameters in banking - the balance sheet of banks by 38,5 percent, capital by 19,6 percent, the amount of loans by 25,5 percent, deposits by 43,6 percent and liquid assets by 94,4 percent.
He also stated that the profit of the Central Bank for these three years amounted to 13,2 million euros, of which, according to the legal obligation, half was paid into the state budget and the other part remained with the CBCG for the growth of its capital. Žugić said that thanks to the increase in profits, CBCG has now exceeded the legally defined amount of the minimum base capital rate.
At the beginning of the session, five deputies and the deputy president were present Petar Ivanovic (DPS), Branko Radulović (PzP), Zdenka Popović (Democrats), Adnan Strikovic (SDP), Simonida Kordić (DF) and Dejan Djurovic (DF). Which is why the session did not have a majority to vote for the reports, but the discussion on them was finished, and the vote was postponed until Monday.
Đurović, Kordić and Striković left the session after the first agenda item on the report of the Deposit Protection Fund.
Director of the Fund Vojin Vlahović said that by the end of last year, based on the request, they had paid out the protected deposits from the bankrupt Invest banka Montenegro in the amount of 21,8 million euros, which is 97,5 percent of the protected deposits, and that they had collected 18,3, 83 million euros, or XNUMX percent of the money paid.
By the end of last year, they paid 82,8 million euros or 91,7 percent of protected deposits for guaranteed deposits in the bankrupt Atlas Bank, while they recovered 45 million from the bankruptcy estate.
It was also agreed that four thematic sessions will be held, to which eminent experts from those fields, as well as current and former ministers, will be invited. The first session "Economic situation, challenges and perspectives" will be held on November 4, and "Energy - situation, challenges and perspectives" on November 7, for the other two on re-industry and information technologies and on sustainable traffic, dates will be proposed later. The proposer of these sessions is Branko Radulović.
At the session two days ago, the procedure for proposing one member of the Council of the Central Bank was initiated.
Basic energy documents are missing
Yesterday, the board also discussed reports on the state of the energy sector in Montenegro for 2020 and 2021, which were prepared by the Energy Regulatory Agency.
Chairman of the Board of the Agency Branislav Prelevic said that it is worrisome that two basic energy documents have not been adopted - the General Energy Policy Guidelines and the National Energy and Climate Plan.
"Without them, we are seriously wandering in the dark," said Prelevic.
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