Talks on sixth review of IMF’s Standby Arrangement with Serbia begin

The Mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), headed by James Roef, has started talks on the sixth review of the Precautionary Standby Arrangement with Serbia in Belgrade. The mission will evaluate fiscal results and conclude negotiations on the 2017 budget during its visit, lasting until November 1.

As earlier announced by Sebastian Sosa, the IMF’s resident representative in Serbia, the progress of reforms in the financial sector will be reviewed and the progress in carrying out key structural reforms and new structural conditions for 2017 will be discussed with Serbian officials.

All previous IMF reviews were completed successfully. The Executive Board of the IMF estimated in September, on the occasion of concluding the combined fourth and fifth reviews of the Standby Arrangement with Serbia, that Serbia’s economic recovery had exceeded expectations and that the economic growth was growing stronger thanks to the support of investments and the growth of net export.

Deputy Managing Director of the IMF, Tao Zheng, said on the occasion that the good result were down to the efforts towards strengthening public finance, improving structural reforms and increasing investors’ trust. He added, however, that certain weaknesses remained, such as high public debt and challenges regarding long-term structural reforms in an uncertain external environment.

The IMF signed a three-year Precautionary Standby Arrangement with Serbia, worth EUR 1.2 billion, in February 2015.

According to the Fund’s estimates, the growth of the gross domestic product (GDP) in Serbia will amount to 2.5% in 2016, whereas it’s been predicted that it will be 2.75% in 2017.

Međunarodni monetarni fond-MMF Beograd

Vlada Republike Srbije

International Monetary Fund

IMF

James Roef

IMF Precautionary Standby Arrangement with Serbia

Sebastian Sosa

Tao Zheng

public finance

public debt

gross domestic product of Serbia

GDP of Serbia