The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) adopted a decision concerning the closing of a three-year arrangement with Serbia, Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) reported.
According to earlier announcements by the Serbian government, the three-year arrangement with the IMF does not entail a new loan from the international financial institution for strengthening Serbia’s foreign exchange reserves because Serbia is solvent enough and does not need a new loan.
Through this arrangement, the Serbian government is practically taking on the obligation to carry out fiscal consolidation and public sector restructuring in keeping with the Law on budget for 2015, i.e. to implement structural measures and measures of macroeconomic stabilisation and reduce the deficit by EUR 1.3 to 1.4 billion or 4.25 percent of the GDP in the next three years.
The first control of execution of the assumed obligations should be carried out in mid-May when the institution’s representatives should come to Belgrade.
The talks with the IMF delegation headed by Chief of the IMF Mission for Serbia Zuzana Murgasova officially began on November 4, 2014 and lasted two weeks.
Over the past 15 years, Serbia had three agreements with the IMF, the stand-by arrangement in the period 2001-2004 and a precautionary arrangement in 2009.
The last arrangement between Serbia and the IMF was signed in late September 2011 and it was frozen the following year because the 2012 budget deviated from the previously agreed fiscal programme.
Source; SerbGov
