The tax package has been designed to show that the government can alleviate the negative effects of the crisis, Finance Minister Slavko Linic told members of Parliament at the end of a discussion on the tax package on Thursday.
Linic said that the government, despite projections by all domestic and foreign economic analysts of negative growth for 2012, believed that an active policy could produce positive effects on the economy.
"Faced with such analyses and such an outlook for 2012, the government can keep its arms crossed and say 'there's nothing we can do about it' or it can be active in its policy and fight to ensure a better and more competitive economy and attract investments. That's why we are optimistic, that's why the government's projection is the only positive one," Linic said.
The minister said that the government had adopted the tax package to reduce business costs and to turn negative trends into positive ones. He said that the government was aware that essential changes would not be effected by changing the tax policy alone and had therefore decided to launch several investment projects to stimulate growth, aware that stronger investments could not be expected from the private sector at a time of risk.
Linic said that the planned investment projects in energy, railways, and alternative energy sources were feasible, thanking the previous government for signing some of the contracts for such projects with international investment institutions.
Speaking of the problem of growing illiquidity, Linic said that the government had today proposed postponing payments to the state for an additional 36 months as a way of helping the companies in combating illiquidity. "We have decided once again to help those who cannot make payments. This is one of our last forms of support before we start purging the economy of unsuccessful and incompetent companies and try to rescue those who have products and services and stand a chance on the market," he said.
