BELGRADE (Serbia), May 17 (SeeNews) – Serbia's prime minister Aleksandar Vucic discussed on Tuesday key pending privatisation deals with senior representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is due to prepare a fourth and fifth revision of its 1.2 billion euro ($1.3 billion) precautionary stand-by agreement with Serbia next month.
Vucic, whose SNS party won the April 24 general election, discussed also the economic programme of the future government with James Roaf, the head of the IMF mission, which has been reviewing Serbia's compliance with the terms of the loan deal, and Daehaeng Kim, the IMF country resident, the government's press office said in a statement.
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Special attention was paid to awaited reforms in the public administration and the privatisation of 11 state-owned companies, including copper producer RTB Bor, coal miner Resavica, and petrochemicals producer HIP Petrohemija.
The three troubled firms are on a list of 17 state-owned enterprises bound to be privatised or liquidated by mid-2016 as part of the government's commitments under the IMF deal.
After the meeting, Vucic told state-run RTS TV he believes that in its next assessment, the IMF would upgrade Serbia's 2016 growth forecast to 2.3% from presently 1.8%, following improved fiscal results. Next year, Serbia could expect economic growth of around 4%, the highest in Europe, the PM predicted.
On Monday, the World Bank signed a 69 million euro ($78.1 million) results based loan with Serbia to support the country in improving efficiency in public sector employment and finances.
“Along with improving business climate and restructuring of public companies, reforms in the public sector should clear the field for faster private sector development and new job creation, as well as ensure Serbia’s readiness for EU accession” Tony Verheijen, World Bank Country Manager for Serbia, said in a statement.
($=0.883 euro)