IMF mission arrives in Belgrade

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission will arrive in Belgrade on Tuesday, it has been announced. They will commence technical talks on the fourth review of its standby loan arrangement with Serbia, announced the National Bank of Serbia (NBS). IMF mission arrives in Belgrade The NBS told Beta news agency that the technical consultations would last until the end of the week. The plenary meeting of government and NBS representatives with IMF representatives is planned to take place on May 17, and it is envisaged that the mission will complete its two-week revision of the standby loan arrangement with Serbia, worth EUR 2.9bn, on May 25, said the NBS. To date, Serbia has withdrawn around EUR 1.3bn. Finance Minister Diana Dragutinovic said earlier that the main topic of the talks with the IMF would be tax and pension reform in Serbia. According to announcements, the key topics will be pension and tax system reforms, but nobody from the government was willing to talk about the promise given to the IMF regarding the laying off of about 3,000 civil servants. B92 was unable to learn from the Finance Ministry, which is receiving the lists of surplus employees, how many have in fact been laid off so far, but the ministry promised to provide the information today. Although the government has several times postponed the deadline for reducing of number of employees, member of the prime minister’s economic team Milojko Arsic admitsthat the obligation has only been partially fulfilled but says that he is not expecting any penalties. “A country rarely fulfills all the elements. It usually happens that some element isn’t fulfilled or it’s partially done. I expect that it won’t be an element of dispute. The deadline will probably be extended again, it will be insisted on, the government will be pressured. Maybe some other saving measures will be proposed. I think that it won’t be so contentious,” he told B92, ahead of the meetings with IMF officials.. While Arsic thinks that the international financial institution will once again agree to the government breaching the deadline for downsizing the administration, he also expects its firm position on another issue. “If there are some disputable things in the government’s economic policy, that will be proposals to increase wages and pensions this year. That won’t be approved until the signs of economic recovery get stronger and more secure, and until incomes resulting from it begin to rise. That could be one of the important points of discussion between the representatives of the Serbian government and the IMF,” he explained.

IMF mission arrives in Belgrade

The NBS told Beta news agency that the technical consultations would last until the end of the week.

The plenary meeting of government and NBS representatives with IMF representatives is planned to take place on May 17, and it is envisaged that the mission will complete its two-week revision of the standby loan arrangement with Serbia, worth EUR 2.9bn, on May 25, said the NBS.

To date, Serbia has withdrawn around EUR 1.3bn.

Finance Minister Diana Dragutinović said earlier that the main topic of the talks with the IMF would be tax and pension reform in Serbia.

According to announcements, the key topics will be pension and tax system reforms, but nobody from the government was willing to talk about the promise given to the IMF regarding the laying off of about 3,000 civil servants.

B92 was unable to learn from the Finance Ministry, which is receiving the lists of surplus employees, how many have in fact been laid off so far, but the ministry promised to provide the information today.

Although the government has several times postponed the deadline for reducing of number of employees, member of the prime minister’s economic team Milojko Arsić admitsthat the obligation has only been partially fulfilled but says that he is not expecting any penalties.

“A country rarely fulfills all the elements. It usually happens that some element isn’t fulfilled or it’s partially done. I expect that it won’t be an element of dispute. The deadline will probably be extended again, it will be insisted on, the government will be pressured. Maybe some other saving measures will be proposed. I think that it won’t be so contentious,” he told B92, ahead of the meetings with IMF officials..

While Arsić thinks that the international financial institution will once again agree to the government breaching the deadline for downsizing the administration, he also expects its firm position on another issue.

“If there are some disputable things in the government’s economic policy, that will be proposals to increase wages and pensions this year. That won’t be approved until the signs of economic recovery get stronger and more secure, and until incomes resulting from it begin to rise. That could be one of the important points of discussion between the representatives of the Serbian government and the IMF,” he explained.