Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic today said that the prices in 2011 were under control, that they have been declining since April and announced that the year will be concluded with an inflation rate of 8–9%.

In an interview for Novi Sad daily Dnevnik, Cvetkovic said that he does not expect high inflation in 2012.

I expect that our efforts to control prices, primarily in terms of essential foodstuffs such as cooking oil, sugar, flour, bread and meat, will yield results and that prices will be stable, perhaps even lower than now, Cvetkovic added.

As for the economic sphere, this year began with a relatively high GDP growth.

Thus, after one recession, we started in a positive direction; it turned out that our ambience is attractive for investors and in ten months we had $1.750 million in investments, which is the highest in the region, the Prime Minister noted.

He stressed that the government has the mandate for the politics it is conducting, stressing that the state, aware of all the dangers, has braced for the upcoming economic crisis.

The next year will be difficult, but I expect a slight GDP growth and consequently a slight increase in the standard of living, he observed.

Because of the crisis, I do not expect a significant increase in employment, but our efforts in the past two years will start to yield results, he remarked.

As for the EU integration process, Serbia continues with the policy it believes to be the right one in a strategic sense.

It is important to know that the problems with the postponement of candidate status were not caused by a lack of democratisation or reforms in Serbia, but that it simply related to the issues with Kosovo-Metohija, Cvetkovic said.

These problems have been around for dozens of years and must be resolved as we go, slowly and with a great deal of patience in dialogue with Pristina and the international community.

We will remain true to the politics which the government proclaimed at its formation, the Prime Minister concluded.