The Serbian Government has adopted the decree on the measures for preventing the prolonged settlements of financial obligations of the public sector towards economic entities, stated Minister of Economy Nebojsa Ciric. He told the press conference that it should help the increased liquidity and reduce the disturbances in the functioning of the market.
The decree envisages that direct budgetary users, such as the ministries, agencies, directorates and local self-governments should settle their obligations towards the private sector within 60 days, pointed Minister Ciric. According to him, in the cases when this deadline is breached, the creditors have the right of calculating the legal default interest, identical to the one charged on economic entities in cases of not paying taxes. It is estimated that the total debt of all budgetary users is around 10 billion dinars (100 million euro), of which 4.5 billion dinars are the debts to economic entities.
It is envisaged that since the moment of the decree coming into effect, within 60 days, the creditors and debtors will attain agreements on the reprogramming of the debts, i.e. on the new deadlines for settlement. Ciric has explained that the Working Group will be formed to include the representatives of the ministries, chamber of commerce, local self-administration units and private sector, with a task to make the law by the end of the year to limit the deadlines. The assets for timely payments, in line with the decree, have been provided in the budget for 2011.
Minister Ciric has stressed that the decree does not refer to the companies in liquidation, because the law has that at the moment of the bankruptcy process starting, all the obligations of that company are considered settled, hence no need for additional regulation. He has reminded that the situation with debts in Serbia is very complicated, because some companies are at the same time creditors and debtors. For example, eleven public companies are demanding 78.5 billion dinars from the economic entities, while also owing 15.4 billion. Only the railway company is has the negative balance, being indebted 1.8 billion dinars and demanding 1.4 billion. It is expected that the decree will contribute to the regulation of the liquidity in the Serbian market, and especially important is the fact that the state has begun resolving the issue of its own debts.
Source balkans.com
