Serbia’s finance ministry said the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the World Bank plan to increase their investments in the country, as a result of its stable economic growth and the reforms carried out by the government.
EBRD has expressed readiness to expand its financial support to Serbia and to actively take part in the resolution of non-performing loans (NPL) in the country, the finance ministry said in a statement on Friday.
Serbia has emerged as an island of stability and a source of good support for the entire region, the vice president of the EBRD, Alain Pilloux, said after a meeting with Serbian finance minister Dusan Vujovic during the 2017 Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to the statement.
The results of Serbia in the field of monetary stabilisation and fiscal consolidation are particularly good and the acceleration of the country’s GDP growth in 2016 proves the successful implementation of reforms by the government, World Bank’s Country Director for Southeast Europe, Europe and Central Asia, Ellen Goldstein, said.
“Although there is still a lot of work, the way in which Serbia goes is the same as the one of all successful economies,” the Vice President of the World Bank, Cyril Muller, said in the statement.
The World Bank will continue to cooperate with the Serbian government and support it during the challenges that still lie ahead, Muller added.
Vujovic held a meeting with representatives of the EBRD and the World Bank in the framework of the spring session of the IMF and World Bank in Washington. The main topics of the meeting were the implementation of the existing programme of cooperation between the international financial institutions and Serbia, which include support for the restructuring of the financial sector and public enterprises and the improvement of the business environment.
