Podgorica, (MINA-BUSINESS) – According to the Party of European Progress, Monstat’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth statistics for the last quarter of 2025 clearly show that the Montenegrin economy is entering a phase of slowdown, despite strong growth in public spending and record government borrowing.

The party said in a press release that the latest official data from Monstat show that Montenegro’s GDP grew by only 1.5 percent in real terms in last year’s fourth quarter, adding that this was the weakest quarterly growth since the 2020 pandemic.

The Party of European Progress said it had previously warned that the Government’s populist measures, based on the administrative increase of wages and the stimulation of consumption, could produce only short-term effects.

“An economy cannot develop in the long term on the basis of consumption generated by the state, without growth in investments, productivity, and real business activity. Today’s data confirm precisely those warnings,” the press release reads.

After high growth rates in 2022 and 2023, when the effects of the Government’s administrative measures and increased consumption due to the inflow of foreign nationals were strongly felt, economic growth halved to 3.2 percent in 2024.

“Quarterly data already indicate that last year’s growth rate will be even lower – certainly below three per cent, and very possibly around 2.7 percent, confirming that the current growth model is losing momentum,” the party said.