Finance Minister Slavko Linic said on Wednesday he was not at all satisfied with the 1.5 per cent GDP decline in the first quarter of the year, but added that the results in the second half of the year would be better.
"It's evident that the crisis in the private sector is so strong and that the effects of the pre-bankruptcy settlements and the government's measures to prolong tax payments in the first three months were minimal. But it's also evident that the results in the second half of the year will be better," Linic said, while responding to questions from the press before a government session.
Linic was not satisfied either that the GDP decline had slowed down from 2.3 per cent in the last quarter of 2012.
"We can't be satisfied with such results in the least," he said, adding that much greater effort was necessary and that the private sector should be rendered capable of developing activities and investing in them.
"The measures the government prepared and started implementing towards the end of last year are yielding small results, but the real results will be visible only by the end of the year," Linic said.
