The Ministry of Finance should have calculated public debt according to ESA since 2015.

The Statistical Office of Montenegro has been publicly publishing the value of the Montenegrin economy or gross domestic product according to the ESA 2015 methodology since September 2010. GDP data were revised back to 2006 and have been regularly published according to the ESA 2010 since then, said Dr. Gordana Radojevic, president of the Society of Statisticians and Demographers of Montenegro and former director of Monstat, clarifying the statements from the text "We will know next year what the real GDP and public debt are."

"In order to close the negotiation chapter 18, and from the perspective of the plan for Montenegro to become a member of the EU in 2028, the Statistical Office announced a new revision of the time series on the economic activity of Montenegro measured by GDP-om for the period 2006-2023. The biggest change is expected to be the assessment of the contribution of illegal activities (production and distribution of drugs, smuggling of goods and people, and provision of illegal services such as prostitution) which ESA 2010 treats as economic transactions with market value and which therefore increase GDP. The second part of the story, also important for closing Chapter 18, is still closed to the public. It concerns data on how much the state earns, spends and borrows, according to the same ESA 2010 standards. The Ministry of Finance promised to harmonise this data in 2015, but this data has not been published to date. Five governments and six ministers of finance have changed, but the professional staff responsible for this job has remained the same. However, citizens still do not have access to public finances according to the European methodology", said Radojević.

She states that instead of fulfilling its obligations, the Ministry of Finance transferred responsibility to the Statistical Office in March 2025 through amendments to the Law on Official Statistics.

“Although the negotiating position of Chapter 18 defines the issue of transfer of competences differently, a much bigger problem is that the basic conditions for this transfer have not been met. Back in 2017, the Statistical Office defined what is needed to deal with this work in a sustainable and quality manner. These demands were repeated in the Government document adopted on 26 January 2022, but most of them have not been implemented to date. The most important among them is strengthening the capacities of the Statistical Office. The European methodology also requires European working conditions, starting from salaries onwards. According to the latest report of the European Commission, Monstat currently lacks around 40% of the necessary staff. How much public debt will increase when the Statistical Office applies the ESA 2010 rules, it is not possible to assess based on the experience of just one country. The experience of Greece is the best reminder of the importance of this data and how concealing or manipulating data on public finances can have catastrophic consequences, not only for the country! Therefore, a much more important question is: what prevented the Ministry of Finance from publishing data on public finances so far "finances according to ESA 2010 as defined by the negotiating position of Chapter 18: Statistics?" said Radojević.