I am glad to note that during the upswing years, Russia was able to save for the rainy day through its Stabilization Fund and by paying off its debts. This has made reacting to the crisis much easier. Also in Finland, the pre-crisis years witnessed large public surpluses, which allowed the fiscal policy to be loosened when the crisis hit.
The financial crisis that has gripped the world since October 2008 has been challenging for the EU as well as for Serbia. There are many lessons to be learned from this crisis. In view of the time available, I would like to focus on two of them.