April 15 (SeeNews) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will continue to provide full support for the implementation of reforms agreed with Serbia as the country is fully committed to their implementation, deputy managing director Tao Zhang said.
Serbia demonstrated unambiguously its strong willingness and determination to strengthening and further progress, Zhang said during a meeting with Serbia's central bank governor Jorgovanka Tabakovic in Washington, according to a statement by the central bank issued on Monday. Tabakovic led Serbia's delegation to the Spring Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank in Washington on April 12-14 where he discussed the implementation of economic reforms backed by the Policy Coordination Instrument (PCI) with representatives of the fund.
A special emphasis was placed during the talks on the activities undertaken to facilitate doing business and serving the needs of financial services consumers, including instant payments and facial recognition payments, and strengthening the transparency of financial services. The robust growth in dinar savings - by close to 25% in 2018 - was positively assessed, the central bank said, adding that this trend continues this year.
Serbia's economy is more stable and the fact that its prospects have improved is also confirmed by the inflow of foreign direct investment of around 7.5% of GDP last year, the central bank said. "In addition, Serbia was recognised as the leading country in terms of the resolution of non-performing loans, whose share fell to 5.7% in December last year," it noted.
The IMF completed the first review under the PCI for Serbia in December, concluding that the country implements its economic programme. A full mission for the second review under the PCI, combined with the 2019 Article IV consultation, is planned for May and will be led by Jan Kees Martijn.