Minister says talks with IMF to continue next week

BELGRADE Serbian Minister of Finance Lazar Krstic has said the talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will continue next week. "The point is that we are no longer waiting to see what the IMF will ask of us, but presenting our plan. Had we continued in the old way, we would have hit a wall within a year, " he told Vecernje Novosti, and added: Minister says talks with IMF to continue next week "No one would believe us anymore. We would have to knock on the IMF's door and ask for a loan, but then it would be under their conditions." He "firmly believes" that next year there will be no more talk of Serbia's bankruptcy, "the Greek or Argentinian scenario or other apocalyptic predictions involving Serbia's economy." "The essence of the new measures is for the people to start relying more on their work, and not on the government. Putting an end to excess spending by officials is not demagogy, but an introduction sensible behaviour, " Krstic remarked. He is convinced that more positive topics will be in focus next year, like increasing employment in the private sector, foreign investments and economic growth, and that Serbia will be a positive exception on Europe's map by late 2014. (Beta, file) Tanjug Vecernje novosti

Minister says talks with IMF to continue next week

"No one would believe us anymore. We would have to knock on the IMF's door and ask for a loan, but then it would be under their conditions."

He "firmly believes" that next year there will be no more talk of Serbia's bankruptcy, "the Greek or Argentinian scenario or other apocalyptic predictions involving Serbia's economy."

"The essence of the new measures is for the people to start relying more on their work, and not on the government. Putting an end to excess spending by officials is not demagogy, but an introduction sensible behaviour, " Krstić remarked.

He is convinced that more positive topics will be in focus next year, like increasing employment in the private sector, foreign investments and economic growth, and that Serbia will be a positive exception on Europe's map by late 2014.