IMF, government fail to reach agreement
Source: TanjugBELGRADE -- Talks between the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission and the Serbian government ended without agreement in Belgrade on Thursday
IMF representatives stated at Thursday's meeting with Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković that the first review of the arrangement with this financial institution would take place after the adoption of the budget revision.
Beta news agency is reporting that the arrangement in question has been frozen.
The closing meeting with representatives of the IMF technical mission headed by Zuzana Murgasova concluded that the status of Serbia's arrangement with the IMF will remain unchanged.
The Serbian government will continue to implement all agreements reached until now, including the levels of deficit and public debt, the government's press service stated.
The IMF representatives underlined that owing to good economic policy in 2011, the Serbian government has contributed to maintenance of the economic activity and macroeconomic stability.
The IMF representatives will visit Belgrade again in mid-2012, the statement reads.
The talks between the IMF mission and the Serbian authorities on the first review of the current precautionary arrangement were launched in Belgrade in February 2.
During the mission's stay, the talks tabled goals of the economic agreement reached with the IMF, the 2012 macroeconomic framework, as well as fulfillment of criteria for December 2011.
Moreover, special attention will be paid to the issues related to implementation of the 2012 budget, agreed fiscal policy measures and adherence to fiscal rules.
The arrangement approved to Serbia on September 29 amounting to EUR 1.1bn (935.4 special drawing rights), was reached out of precaution, i.e. with no intention of using the funds except if need be.
As part of the current precautionary arrangement, the talks with IMF took place in Belgrade in November, and the decision on completion of the review was first to be made at a meeting of the IMF executive directors on December 23, but was postponed until the two parties' stands on the current fiscal policy converged.
