Podgorica, (MINA-BUSINESS) – According to Social Justice Action (ASP), state deposits amounted to €732.99 million at the end of February, compared to €807.01 million a month earlier.

According to data available to the NGO, state deposits stood at €804.68 million at the end of December. 

“Looking at deposit trends over a six-month period, from the end of September last year to the end of February this year, it follows that their level has generally remained above half a billion euros,” ASP said in a press release.

Deposits amounted to €583.55 million in September, €542.72 million at the end of October, and €494.34 million in November.

“The Ministry of Finance carried out two rounds of bond issuance that month for citizens and domestic companies, with a yield of 3.74 percent, raising just under €50 million,” ASP said, adding that the reasons for the issuance remain unclear.

Deposit data, which ASP collects as part of its public finance monitoring through the Law on Free Access to Information, includes deposits based on gold.

The NGO stated that the level of state deposits in the country is not linked to a successful economy or sound public finances, but rather the opposite.

“The state has been in a vicious cycle of continuous borrowing for more than a decade and a half, starting in 2008 and 2009, when significant ‘holes’ in the state budget were first created, as taxpayers’ money was used to bail out private banking businesses and foreign tycoons,” ASP said.

They added that Montenegro, which destroyed its own production and economy during the period of “dark privatization,” has never managed to break out of this vicious cycle of debt.