Public finance

Public debt increases by over EUR 0.5bn

BELGRADE -- Serbia's public debt rose by over EUR 0.5 billion since the beginning of 2014, and totaled EUR 20.66 billion at the end of June, the finance ministry has said.

 Fund remains against horizontal cuts to salaries and pensions

By Katerina Sokou

The International Monetary Fund insists that Greece’s debt needs to be restructured and is waiting for the issue to be discussed this fall in the context of the Greek economy’s next assessment, a spokesman for the Washington-based Fund confirmed on Thursday.

By Prokopis Hatzinikolaou

The Finance Ministry is blocking real estate transactions for owners who have not paid their property taxes in the last five years. Any transactions attempted without the ENFIA certificate, whose title comes from the Greek acronym for the Single Property Tax, will be deemed invalid.

At the end of the first quarter of 2014, Bulgaria's government debt increased by 1.4 percentage points from the last quarter of 2013 and by 2.3 pp from the first quarter of 2013, to 20.3% of the GDP, according to Eurostat.

In the last quarter of 2013 the government debt amounted to 18.9% of the GDP and in the first quarter of 2013 it stood at 18.0% of the GDP.

Representatives of Bulgarian agricultural organizations and the Ministry of Agriculture discussed the priorities for the next six-year EU programming period, Tuesday.

The subsidy distribution by sector should be presented in Brussels by July 31, Bulgarian National Radio informs.

BELGRADE – Serbia’s Tax Administration has called on the citizens to help step up the fight against grey economy and introduce fiscal discipline, according to a release from the institution.

Romania's government is proposing controversial increases in some taxes after deciding to cut taxes on employers in order to boost job creation.

The cabinet on Wednesday is to start debating a draft Fiscal Code that includes increasing taxes on cars and owners of non-residential properties among other things.

BELGRADE - Serbia wants to negotiate with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) regarding an agreement on a three-year loan that would help reduce the public debt and deficit and make the budget cuts easier, which would make austerity less painful, Serbia's Minister of Economy Dusan Vujovic said in an interview for Bloomberg.

"Serbia wants agreement with IMF on 3-year loan"

BELGRADE -- Serbia wants to negotiate with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) regarding an agreement on a three-year loan, Economy Minister Dušan Vujović has said.

The Ministry of Public Finance removed the draft of the Tax and Tax Procedure Codes published on Friday evening on its website, following a Saturday's request of Prime Minister Victor Ponta to have them analysed by the Government before the public debate.