Talks with IMF begin – Serbia's public finances stable, fiscal discipline needs to be maintained

Serbian Minister of Finance Sinisa Mali and the head of the delegation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), James Roaf, agreed today in Belgrade that Serbia's public finances were stable at the moment, but that it was also necessary for the fiscal discipline to be maintained, for the reduction of the public debt to continue and for the system's institutions to strengthen.

This will mean both a stronger economy and new employments, they agreed.

Mali and Roaf also discussed the announced increase of pensions and salaries in the public sector, as well as a package of stimulative measures that could contribute to the improvement of the business environment and the the increasing of the competitiveness, the government's PR office announced.

They also agreed that the new program, called The Policy Coordination Instrument (PCI) was important for an accelerated and sustainable growth of the economy and the income, along with the maintenance of the macroeconomic and the fiscal stability.

Minister Mali thanked the representatives of the IMF for the cooperation and the successfully closed arrangement and pointed out that all the results had been achieved thanks to joint efforts.

The minister's talks with the IMF will continue tomorrow, when the topic will be the reform of the financial and tax system, the press release says.

The IMF mission last visited Serbia from May 7 through 18. At the end of that visit, Roaf said that an agreement had been reached about the key elements of the new program and that the negotiations would end once a new finance minister was appointed.

At the time, the then finance minister, Dusan Vujovic, resigned for personal reasons, and Prime Minister Ana Brnabic took over the duties of the finance minister until a new one was appointed. Sinisa Mali was elected finance minister on May 29.

The new arrangement of Serbia and the IMF, as announced earlier, would not be financial, but advisory (Policy Coordination Instrument – PCI).

This February, Serbia ended the three-year precautionary arrangement with the IMF worth around EUR 1.2 billion, without using the money.

Ministarstvo finansija Republike Srbije

Međunarodni monetarni fond-MMF Beograd

Sinisa Mali

James Roaf

Dusan Vujovic

Ana Brnabic

IMF arrangement

advisory IMF arrangement

Policy Coordination Instrument

PCI

salaries in the public sector

raising salaries

raising pensions

salaries

pensions

public finances of Serbia

fiscal discipline

public debt of Serbia