"Agreement possible on on lower electricity price hike"

"Agreement possible on on lower electricity price hike"

BELGRADE -- Instead of having a RSD 55bn deficit in the first quarter, as agreed with the IMF, " we have a deficit that totals only 21.5bn," says Aleksandar Vucic.

"The expectation that it will be possible to reach an agreement on a lower percentage increase for electricity prices with the IMF is based on this fact," Vucic told Monday's edition of Belgrade-based daily Politika.

"The IMF insisted on fiscal consolidation, requirements have been fully met, and not only that - we have achieved much better results than expected," the prime minister said.

The government previously agreed to a 15-percent increase the price of electricity in Serbia as of April 1, "half of which would go to the EPS (state-run power company) and half t the budget as excise income," the newapaper writes.

However, the EPS is yet to ask a regulatory body in charge of this to increase the price.