11 August 2019 - Based on the analysis carried out at the end of 2018, the total tax debt amounted to 397,4 million EUR, which is over 190 million EUR less compared to the last three years said Miomir M. Mugoša, head of the Montenegrin Tax Administration as Cafe del Montenegro reported.

“When it comes to the structure of tax debt, the largest part of due liabilities refers to liabilities from taxing salaries, accounting for 40 per cent. However, it is important to mention that a significant decrease in the amount of this tax debt was recorded last year, which points out to the fact that efforts of the Tax Administration and other services to improve tax discipline on the labor market are gradually giving results. Having in mind that over 200 million euros of tax debt refers to taxpayers who have been considered active according to the criteria of Ministry of Finance, the Tax Administration is doing everything it can to collect the largest part of tax claims. On the other hand, a significant part of tax debt belongs to taxpayers who have not been active at all for years and have not been generating income as well, so literally there is no way we can collect tax from this category,” Mugoša explained.

When asked how the Tax Administration is going to collect a 21 million EUR tax debt incurred by the national airline carrier, Montenegro Airlines, and if there is a possibility not to be able to collect it at all Mugoša said that Montenegro Airliner was paying tax liabilities during the whole period of accumulating tax debt.

“First of all, I have to stress that a taxpayer Montenegro Airlines was paying tax liabilities during the whole period of accumulating tax debt, as much as it could due to some business difficulties. However, in the period from 2012 to 2018, the Tax Administration managed to collect around 10 million euros and since then, the company has been regularly paying due liabilities. Taking into account the above-mentioned, as well as the data on the continuous increase in the number of passengers and revenues of this taxpayer thus pointing out to the certain financial potential, I believe it is in the interest of the State and our society to consider ways for ensuring the company’s survival, and that is why this matter will be resolved by the Ministry of Finance, i.e. the Government of Montenegro in due course,” concluded Mugoša.

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08 August 2019 - In 2019, the Government allocated over 22 million EUR in the capital budget for Northern Montenegro for the implementation of projects worth over 150 million EUR, whose implementation will continue in the coming period as their representatives announced, bearing in mind that those are predominantly multi-year projects.

The proposed List of Priority Capital Projects for Financing from the State Capital Budget in 2020, adopted by the Government at its 132nd session held on 1 August 2019, contains only the part of projects, that is, only those projects ranked by the criteria evaluation in accordance with the Decision on preparation of capital budget and determination and evaluation of criteria for selection of capital projects. The Decision establishes the basic and additional conditions that the candidate projects must satisfy in order to be considered for financing from the state capital budget, such as the drafted spatial planning documentation, feasibility study, minimum value depending on the type of project, etc.

The Decision also specifies criteria for project evaluation, such as: solved property-legal relations, drafted main project, provision of other sources of financing, contribution to balanced regional and economic development, contribution to the protection and valorisation of cultural heritage, positive impact on the environment, etc. , based on which projects were evaluated and ranked.

Of the 29 capital projects identified in the List Proposal for Northern Montenegro, multi-year projects with a total estimated value of 91 million EUR are predominantly present, and the projects identified in the Final List will be implemented in the following years.

"We emphasise that the proposal of the List of Priority Projects contains only new projects that will potentially be included in the state capital budget for the first time. Namely, according to the Decision, the List does not contain projects that have already been started, that is, included in the capital budget by the Law on a budget of Montenegro for 2019, bearing in mind that according to the Decision they are considered priority projects and their implementation continues in the next period," stated the representatives of the Government of Montenegro.

In addition, projects regarding Northern Montenegro regulated by a special regulation, that is, projects established by the Law on the Motorway and the Law on the Old Royal Capital, are not subject to evaluation criteria in accordance with the Decision, and they are not included in the proposed List of priority projects. Also, the List does not contain projects financed by EU funds through the pre-accession instrument, bearing in mind that IPA funds are earmarked for the purpose of signing an international financing agreement for specific projects, and are implemented in accordance with international procedures.

In this regard, bearing in mind that the Decision on Capital Budget Preparation and Determination and Evaluation of Criteria for Selection of Capital Projects, in accordance with the Law on Budget and Fiscal Responsibility and Determined Dynamics of State Capital Budget Preparation, has now been applied for the first time in practice, a significant number of candidate projects by state institutions and municipalities, namely 134 projects out of a total of 251 applicants, are projects that have already been identified in the capital budget in 2019 and their implementation continues in the future, while the remaining projects have been evaluated according to precisely defined criteria.

Accordingly, the Law on a budget of Montenegro for 2019, within the capital state budget, allocated funds for the beginning and continuation of development projects, which were not subject to the list of priority projects, but their implementation continues in the following period, in the municipalities: Andrijevica, Bar, Berane, Bijelo Polje, Cetinje, Danilovgrad, Gusinje, Herceg Novi, Kolašin, Kotor, Mojkovac, Nikšic, Petnjica, Plav, Pljevlja, Podgorica, Rožaje, Tivat, Tuzi, Šavnik, Ulcinj, Žabljak.

It is also important to emphasise the presence of a strong investment momentum in some municipalities in North Montenegro, which started and is being implemented in the current year, and which will continue in the coming period, given the developmental, multi-year character of these capital projects.

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Lustica Development AD Tivat is launching a new cycle of hiring and job creation as a result of the introduction of new and strengthening existing sectors in the company that is developing a $1.1 billion worth project Lustica Bay.

After the first employment fair in March this year, with the growth of the project for the development of a new city in the Adriatic, an opportunity was created for the recruitment of new staff, in seasonal and permanent positions.

Lustica Development is currently looking for 15 new positions in almost all business segments: Project and Design Managers, Lawyers, Marketing Managers in the Real Estate and Destination Management Sectors, then Sales Agents, Technicians, and Maintenance Staff, Accounting Chief and Junior Accountant, Chefs and Staff in the food and beverage sector.

Since its founding, the company has seen a significant increase in job creation, especially during the previous year, when Chedi Hotel was opened as part of Lustica Bay, as the first five-star luxury hotel on Lustica Peninsula and one of the largest in Boka. The marina for receiving vessels up to 45 meters in length and a chain of retail outlets along the promenade in the new marina settlement should also be mentioned. The dynamics of the planned development of the company have created hundreds of new jobs - within the direct business of the company, in the newly opened hotel, marina, retail and in the part of providers of various services and business of subcontractors, as stated from the company.

Anyone interested can get more information at the official lusticabay.com/careers website where new job openings are continuously being advertised.

Lustica Development on the Tivat part of the Lustica peninsula is developing a project for the integrated tourist destination Lustica Bay, which involves the construction of seven hotels, two marinas, an 18-hole championship golf course, apartments, villas, and single-family homes, as well as all necessary amenities for the life of the city. It is the largest project in tourism of Montenegro and construction of residential communities.

07 August 2019 - The total assets of the Montenegrin banking system, which currently has 13 banks active at the end of June, amounted to 4,3 billion EUR, which is a growth by 317 million or almost 8 per cent from the same period last year.

According to the information available to the Investitor portal, all banks have recorded an increase in assets over the past 12 months, except Prva Banka and Addiko Bank.

The largest bank by assets remained CKB, with assets worth 760 million EUR. That's 98 million euros more than a year ago, or growth of 14,9 per cent. CKB operates within the Hungarian OTP Group, as well as Podgorička Bank. The two banks have assets worth a total of 1,3 billion EUR and cover almost a third of the total sector by this parameter.

The assets of Podgorička Bank stood at 548 million EUR at the end of the first half of the year, which is a growth of 6,1 per cent compared to the previous year. By that criterion, Podgorička Bank ranks third, and is placed just behind Erste Bank, which between June 2 managed to increase its assets by 13,4 per cent to 569,3 million EUR.

The following is a ranking of banks by asset value at the end of H1 2019:

1. CKB (760 million)
2. Erste (569,3 million)
3. Podgorička Bank (548,1 million)
4. NLB (511,1 million)
5. Hipotekarna Bank (503,7 million)
6. Prva Bank (374,8 million)
7. Universal Capital Bank (294 million)
8. Addiko Bank (232,3 million)
9. Lovćen Bank (180,2 million)
10. Komercijalna Bank (141,4 million)
11. Zapad Bank (90,1 million)
12. Ziraat Bank (79,8 million)
13. Nova Bank (23 million)

Banks' assets include funds placed on the equity market. The assets of the bank are represented by loans offered by the bank, as well as the required reserves that guarantee the repayment of deposits from the bank's clients.

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06 August 2019 - Due to incredible interest, Air Serbia will increase the number of flights between Belgrade and Tivat. By the end of August, there will be 26 flights per week. Passengers will have almost 2.000 seats at their disposal in the Airbus and ATR aircraft. The Serbian national carrier introduced direct flights between Niš and Tivat on 16 July. From today until the beginning of winter season, flights will be operating three times per week.

Representatives of the Air Serbia stated that their company is committed to developing air traffic with Montenegro, as CdM reports.

“Tivat and Podgorica are out most frequent destinations, with 216 return flights in August. Increased flight intensity comes as no surprise considering that Tivat is a very popular tourist destination. We firmly believe that we will make trips so much easier for our passengers,” said CEO of Air Serbia Duncan Naysmith.

Danilo Orlandić, CEO of the Airports of Montenegro, said that Air Serbia was a very important partner for Montenegro. Last year they transported over 245.000 passengers to and from Montenegro.

“That number is going to be higher this year, especially thanks to the new Niš-Tivat line. That will contribute to the improvement of our economy. We expect that the Airports of Montenegro will serve 2,6 million passengers,” pointed out Orlandić.

Serbian national air carrier and Airports of Montenegro have been cherishing successful partnership for decades.

Recently, the latest annual report of Airport Council International was published, which states that the Airports of Montenegro significantly boosted air accessibility. The report suggests that Tivat Airport is among the leading growing destinations with 352 per cent growth rate, Executive Director of the Airports of Montenegro Danilo Orlandić stated.

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Revenues thanks to the tourist tax in Montenegro amount to 4, 4 million euros. There are currently 204,000 registered tourists in the country. The record data from last year was recorded on August 10 and at that time just over 196 thousand guests were registered. The best thing about the success of the season, however, is the fact that, as of August 1, Montenegro recorded over 4.4 million euros in tourist tax revenues, while last year about 3.6 million euros were earned on that basis, said the director of the National Tourism Organization (NTO) Željka Radak-Kukavičić.

She pointed out that as of August 1, Montenegro recorded this amount of income from the sojourn tax, while last year, by the same date, around EUR 3.6 million was received on that basis.

"I think this is the information that speaks best about the success of the tourist season and its course," said Radak Kukavicic, who, considering the arrangements, expects good occupancy this month. Željka Radak Kukavičić has been the executive director of the National Tourism Organization since 2014 and was re-elected to the post in 2018.

The NTO director recalled the latest Monstat data on hotel accommodation and similar types of accommodation for six months. These data show that in Montenegro there were more than 500 thousand guests in hotels alone, which generated about 1.5 million nights, and emphasized that about 73 percent of those guests stayed in 4 and 5-star hotels.

"The structure of guests coming to Montenegro is changing. In six months, most were guests from Germany, followed by Serbia, Russia, France, the United Kingdom," Radak-Kukavicic emphasized.