Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Verica Kalanovic stated Monday that the global economic crisis had very negative consequences on the Serbian economy, and strongly affected the average citizen.

She said at the conference on financing of Serbia's growth that since 2008 the unemployment went up by 10 percent placing Serbia in the group of countries with the largest unemployment rate.

According to her, salaries in the real sector are increasing more slowly than in the previous period, and a drop in standard has led to a decrease in demand.

The fact that the crisis has hit Serbia is proved by the latest case of departure of a large company such as US Steel, Kalanovic underlined.

She said that it is difficult to draw the line between the impacts of the economic crisis and incompletion of the economic system and transition in Serbia, but added that it is certain that these two factors have given rise to major problems in Serbia.

In spite of the government's anti-crisis measures, some of which yielded results while others were fruitless, Kalanovic once again underlined that the solutions are: completion of privatization, reforms in the public sector and public enterprises, professionalization of management, reforms of the justice system and education, and all other areas related to business
environment.