The 2025 budget is essentially social and consumer-driven rather than development-focused, with 280 million euros allocated for capital projects and nearly 720 million euros for salaries of public sector employees, as economic analyst Mirza Mulešković pointed out.
Mulešković believes that 2025 will be a challenging year economically, both globally, within the EU, in the region, and locally. He finds it difficult to predict economic growth.
“What can be expected is that it will be hard to replicate the economic growth of 2024. Montenegro has chosen a consumer-driven model, where public finances will depend on citizens’ spending, business activity, and the collection of indirect taxes. This model is vulnerable, dependent, and unsustainable in the long run. It is characterized by significant uncertainty — what if the tourism season underperforms, what if foreign citizens return to their home countries, what if there are no new investors, what if personal consumption declines, and so on. Given the turbulent global trends, this model is not the most fortunate solution,” Mulešković stated.
Mulešković also critically reviewed the proposed 2025 budget, which is expected to be approved in January.
“The 280 million euros allocated for capital projects and nearly 720 million euros for public sector salaries are the best indicators of its social rather than developmental components,” Mulešković added.
He believes that fiscal reforms and public administration reforms will continue next year.
“Fewer populist decisions and more strategic ones based on real development parameters, involving all stakeholders in the political, economic, and civil sectors, as well as civil society activists, which was not the case this year,” Mulešković concluded.
