"Macroeconomics, cost cuts to be discussed with IMF"

"Macroeconomics, cost cuts to be discussed with IMF"

The government's goal is to implement the financial consolidation program and achieve the agreed cost cuts, Vujović said.

One of the measures - a 10-percent reduction of salaries and pensions amounting to over RSD 25,000 - has already taken effect on November 1, with more cuts, targeting costs such as subsidies, to follow, Vujović said.

Subsidies should not be given to rich landowners with more than 100 hectares of land, while some subsidies, such as those for the railways, must be reduced because they produce no results, Vujović explained.

With respect to public enterprises, operating costs must be reduced and management improved - an efficient corporate management structure must be established, he said.

The number of employees in public enterprises will be streamlined and there will probably be dismissals, Vujović said.

The Serbian electric power company EPS has 600 directors, while a company of that size does not need more than 100, and it also has 14 profit centers, rather than two or three, which would have been sufficient, he said.

The finance minister said that the 2015 budget bill should be tabled to the government in late November and that he expects it to be adopted in the parliament by the end of December.