Central Bank: External debt falls, public debt rises

Central Bank: External debt falls, public debt rises

BELGRADE -- The analysis of debt issued by the National Bank of Serbia shows that Serbia's external debt has reduced by EUR 338.2 million in the first three months of 2014.

At the same time, the public debt went up by EUR 365.8 million.

Serbia's external debt i.e. the total debt of the state and private companies towards foreign creditors amounted to EUR 25.5 billion, while the public debt i.e. the total debt of the state and the public sector amounted to EUR 20.5 billion at the end of March.

The share of the external debt in GDP continued to decrease reaching 80 percent, while the share of the public debt in estimated GDP went up by 65.1 percent, the analysis reads.

As for the external debt, the banks continued the repayment trend, but the public sector has reduced its external debt mostly owing to the decrease of the debt of the central bank towards the International Monetary Fund. Only companies increased their indebtedness abroad during the first three months of 2014, the NBS said.

As the external debt reduced, all indicators of external solvency improved. The improvement of the indicator of the relation between the external debt and the export of goods and services is particularly important as it is often referred to as the most important indicator given that it is the basis of sustainable debt repayment, the central bank said on its website.

Aside from the indicators of external solvency, the indicators of external liquidity have improved compared to the past quarter, reads the analysis of the central bank.

The crucial improvement is that of the indicators showing the participation of the external debt disbursement in...