IMF mission finishes visit to Serbia on Thursday

BELGRADE - An IMF will finish its visit to Serbia on Thursday, the IMF office in Belgrade has told Tanjug.

The visit was meant to review the situation with the state budget and public finance and discuss a new precautionary arrangement.

The talks with the IMF began in Belgrade on February 26 and were conducted between technical experts, while the official talks started on March 3 with a plenary session at the National Bank of Serbia (NBS), where NBS governor Jorgovanka Tabakovic and Minister of Finance Lazar Krstic led the Serbian delegation.

Krstic said earlier Serbia needed a new arrangement with the IMF, which would be received under obligation to implement a certain economic strategy in the next three years.

He said there could be negotiations about a new three-year arrangement with the IMF and explained that the arrangement would be realized by the next government, while the outgoing government would in the meantime prepare everything so the government formed after the early parliamentary election on March 16 could adopt the necessary decision and realize the new arrangement with the IMF.