January 23 (SeeNews) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) plans to support Serbia in the restructuring of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and the development of the country's capital market in 2020, a senior EBRD official has said.
“At the request of the Serbian government, in cooperation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), we will support the preparation of a document on state ownership policy, to define what the state wants to accomplish when owning a public company,” Zsuzsanna Hargitai, EBRD Regional Director, Western Balkans, said in a video file posted on the website of news agency Tanjug earlier this week.
Serbia should change the law on public companies, in order to improve corporate governance and the services offered to the citizens and private companies, Hargitai said.
"We think the Serbian government is ready for reform steps and better governance in state and utility companies," she added.
The EBRD has achieved a historic record in Serbia in 2019 with 516 million euro ($572 million) of new financial commitments, the bank said earlier this month. In total, the lender signed more than 20 new projects and registered the highest investment volume in the country since Serbia joined the EBRD in 2001.
($ = 0.901584 euro)