World Bank satisfied with reforms in Serbia

BELGRADE The World Bank is satisfied with results achieved by Serbia’s Finance Ministry and World Bank in the preparation of a program of structural reforms. The World Bank and the Finance Ministry worked on the preparation of reforms in the state and public enterprises' sector. World Bank satisfied with reforms in Serbia In a letter to Finance Minister Mladjan Dinkic, World Bank Office in Belgrade Head Loup Brefort said that the new draft Law on Public Enterprises would bring some major improvements in terms of depoliticization, transparency and accountability in the sector. He stressed that the proposed draft would define and document criteria that candidates to the position of directors would have to meet. The draft law would also introduce a new, more objective and more transparent procedure for their selection and appointment with the Supervisory Board playing an important role, in line with the principle that the responsibility to supervise should be linked to a role in appointing the executive, reads the letter. The World Bank alsos support the intent to introduce independent members in the public enterprises Supervisory Boards. Further, the current draft also enables the government to set an obligation for all large public companies to have an Executive Board, whereas in existing Law there was only single director in charge of managing the company. According to the World Bank, this should bring additional expertise to top management, but also aim to enhance accountability through the introduction of internal "checks and balances". Finally, the proposed bill would introduce welcome improvements in the transparency of operations of public enterprises. The World Bank noted in particular that business plans of the public enterprises, as well as quarterly reports, would now have to be published on company web sites. This would allow both the civil society and members of the legislative bodies to have significantly more insight into the operations and results of SOEs and to call for accountability. “Overall, we believe the proposed new legislation would be a very significant step in the right direction and we hope the legislator will support the efforts of the Serbian government to improve and modernize the governance framework in the public enterprise sector. We stand ready to assist, in any way we can and the Government would consider desirable, in the implementation of this critically important reform effort,” reads Brefort’s letter to Dinkic B92

World Bank satisfied with reforms in Serbia

In a letter to Finance Minister Mlađan Dinkić, World Bank Office in Belgrade Head Loup Brefort said that the new draft Law on Public Enterprises would bring some major improvements in terms of depoliticization, transparency and accountability in the sector.

He stressed that the proposed draft would define and document criteria that candidates to the position of directors would have to meet.

The draft law would also introduce a new, more objective and more transparent procedure for their selection and appointment with the Supervisory Board playing an important role, in line with the principle that the responsibility to supervise should be linked to a role in appointing the executive, reads the letter.

The World Bank alsos support the intent to introduce independent members in the public enterprises Supervisory Boards. Further, the current draft also enables the government to set an obligation for all large public companies to have an Executive Board, whereas in existing Law there was only single director in charge of managing the company.

According to the World Bank, this should bring additional expertise to top management, but also aim to enhance accountability through the introduction of internal "checks and balances".

Finally, the proposed bill would introduce welcome improvements in the transparency of operations of public enterprises.

The World Bank noted in particular that business plans of the public enterprises, as well as quarterly reports, would now have to be published on company web sites. This would allow both the civil society and members of the legislative bodies to have significantly more insight into the operations and results of SOEs and to call for accountability.

“Overall, we believe the proposed new legislation would be a very significant step in the right direction and we hope the legislator will support the efforts of the Serbian government to improve and modernize the governance framework in the public enterprise sector. We stand ready to assist, in any way we can and the Government would consider desirable, in the implementation of this critically important reform effort,” reads Brefort’s letter to Dinkić