Montenegro’s fiscal position in 2025 is more resilient than many analysts anticipated. According to reporting from Monte.business, the government’s budget deficit for the first ten months of the year came in at approximately €118.8 million, comfortably below earlier projections. For a country with a small and volatile revenue base, this outcome is significant — even more so because it occurred against a backdrop of slower growth.
The deficit figure matters because it reflects two parallel forces. The first is improved revenue collection. As Monte.news highlighted in several recent economic briefs, tourism receipts remained strong, personal consumption stabilised, and tax administration benefited from digitalisation efforts. The second force is spending discipline. While Montenegro’s public expenditure structure remains rigid — dominated by wages, pensions and social transfers — the government resisted the temptation to fuel growth through deficit expansion.
This fiscal moderation sends an important signal to markets, lenders and investors. Montenegro has historically oscillated between periods of fiscal prudence and stress, often depending on political cycles or infrastructure megaprojects. The ability to maintain a controlled deficit during a year of softened economic activity suggests improving institutional maturity.
The fiscal account also intersects with the EU-integration process. Sound public finances are a prerequisite for advancing negotiations on multiple chapters, including those related to economic governance, competition policy and broader rule-of-law frameworks. Monte.business has underscored the growing alignment between Montenegro’s fiscal planning and EU expectations, a shift that strengthens the country’s credibility with international partners.
Yet challenges remain. The deficit does not capture mounting long-term pressures: pension-system sustainability, the need to modernise public administration, and the capital demands associated with large transport and energy projects. Nor does it fully reflect vulnerabilities tied to external shocks — tourism swings, regional instability, or commodity price shifts.
Still, in an environment of high uncertainty across Europe, Montenegro’s fiscal resilience is more than a technical achievement. It is a foundation upon which future investment confidence can be built. Whether the country can maintain this stability while pursuing development and EU alignment will be one of the defining policy tests of the coming years.
