Page 53 - bne IntelliNews Southeastern Europe Outlook 2025

earlier.
3.7 External Environment – Montenegro
The IMF has projected that Montenegro’s current account deficit will remain among the region’s highest, projecting it would reach 14% of GDP in 2025, down from an estimated 14.5% of GDP in 2024 but significantly higher from the 11.6% in 2023.
The World Bank has a more positive projection that the current account deficit will reach 13.7% in 2025 from an estimated 12.6% in 2024. In 2025, the current account deficit is set to widen due to expected higher energy imports.
On the positive side, Standard & Poor’s has noted that although it expects Montenegro’s current account deficit to average a high 12% of GDP out to 2027, it would be predominantly financed by a continued inflow of FDI rather than debt.
The latest available central bank data showed that Montenegro's current account gap increased 55.2% y/y to €858.4mn in the first half of 2024. Exports decreased by 25.1% y/y to €305.5mn in January-June, while imports increased 5.8% y/y to €1.9bn.
53 SE Outlook 2025 www.intellinews.com