with Milodrag Katnić
Finance Minister of Montenegro
LSEE welcomed Milodrag Katnić, the Finance Minister of Montenegro who made a presentation at a policy seminar on 10 October 2011. The discussion was chaired by LSEE's Dr Will Bartlett, Senior Research Fellow in the Political Economy of South East Europe.
Dr Katnić is a graduate of the University of Montenegro’s School of Economics where he studied entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial finance after which he obtained a Master's Degree on public debt analysis in 2005 and a Ph.D. on ‘Public Consumption and Economic Growth’ in 2010. He has served as the head of the working group for negotiations on accession of Montenegro to the European Union in charge of economic and financial issues and statistics. While working on the negotiating team for the accession of Montenegro to the World Trade Organization, he was in charge of the financial and service area section until Montenegro became a WTO member in 2011.
In his talk, Minister Katnić presented an overview of the current issues facing Montenegrin economy and the government’s response to the effects of the global economic crisis, which hit Montenegro particularly hard in 2009. The resulting recession resulted in a reduction in tax revenues and a large increase in the government’s budget deficit. The government now aims to reduce the deficit by cutting public expenditure with a long-term goal of maintaining government expenditure below 40% of GDP and promoting the private enterprise economy. Other priorities of the government include expenditure on infrastructure investments, attraction of foreign investment and promotion of tourism. His presentation was followed by a lively debate with the audience.