Serbian Economy Minister Zeljko Sertic said Monday that 15 privatization processes would be launched by the end of the current month, adding that the government had determined the fate of 338 of its enterprises so far.
“It is for precisely 338 enterprises that we have defined the manner in which they will be restructured and privatized,” Sertic told reporters at the International Fair of Technology in Belgrade, adding that there were 188 enterprises left to see what would become of them.
Unfortunately, some of them will have to go into bankruptcy, and we will fight to find strategic partners for the others, particularly for the biggest and most important ones, which all need some kind of protection, Sertic said. For some of them, the protection has already been agreed in principle with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“We have action plans for all enterprises and if we do not find strategic partners for them within a certain period or fail to find a way for their restructuring, these enterprises will face the same fate as the others (bankruptcy),” Sertic said.
The minister said that 12 privatization processes had been launched so far, one of which had failed, but a new tender had been called for that enterprise recently.
Source; in Serbia
