May 4 (SeeNews) - Serbia's central bank plans to resume on May 7 its talks on concluding a non-financial arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on May 7, Belgrade-based media reported on Friday.
The new round of talks will start shortly after the central bank announced a flash estimate of 4.5% economic growth in the first quarter of 2018, news agency Tanjug reported.
Serbia's central bank, NBS, said in March it started discussions with the IMF on their cooperation after the recent completion of the country's three-year precautionary stand-by arrangement (SBA) with the Fund. NBS and the IMF would analyse the results of the stand-by deal and the institutional and structural reforms which Serbia should implement, the NBS said back then.
In February, the IMF said Serbia concluded a successful $1.32 billion (1.1 billion euro) three-year SBA. After three years of effort under the programme, Serbia's economy has turned around, as fiscal accounts recorded a surplus in 2017, economic confidence improved with stronger investment both from foreign and domestic sources, while unemployment is near historic lows, and falling, banks are solid, and non-performing loans are now below their pre-crisis levels, the IMF said.
($ = 0.835535 euro)