Finance Minister Sinisa Mali said that Serbia repaid the debt of the former government of 700 million dollars, with interest of over 25 million dollars.
“We put an end to that debt from 2011, since we paid the last installment of a total of 725 million dollars. That year, Serbia was indebted at a high interest rate of as much as 7.25 percent for ten years. Because of that, but also for other bad moves, the state was forced to take difficult measures of fiscal consolidation, in order to save a complete collapse and move away from the edge of the abyss,” Mali said in a statement.
He added that Serbia, thanks to domestic business, savings, and reforms that have been implemented, has had a four-year budget surplus and stocks have been created that have been used to prevent the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.
Mali reminded that ten days ago, a fifteen-year Eurobond in the amount of 750 million euros was issued, with an annual coupon rate of 2.05 percent, which was mostly used to repay the overpriced debt from 2011.
“All these years, apart from Serbia fighting for an economic return to life, it has been forced to pay expensive old debts incurred until 2012. No government will have to repay those debts anymore, and I am glad that we have put an end to that with today’s repayment,” said the Minister.
He added that loans that were taken from European and world financial institutions and foreign governments in the ’70s and’ 80s at very high interest rates, and which Serbia will repay for another twenty years, are still being repaid, Novosti reports.
