EBR investing more than EUR 300 mil in Serbia during 2016 – The bank interested in privatizing the Airport and Telekom

Director for Serbia of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Daniel Berg has stated that the EBRD is planning to invest over a billion euros in the Western Balkans region this year too, of which over 300 millions are meant for Serbia.

Berg said for RTS that the EBRD would invest over EUR 100 mil through banks into small and medium enterprises and that it had also shown interest in privatizing big systems, like Nikola Tesla Airport and Telekom.

Regarding the privatization of the Airport and Telekom, he said that the EBRD was in contact with the Government, with which it was also cooperating in the fields of governance, state management reformation and public enterprises.

- I think these are only two of several potential projects we could be working on. There are also some big foreign investors we are hoping will come to Serbia – said Berg and added that the arrival of China to this part of the world was very useful.

Berg reminded that China had recently become a shareholder of the EBRD and added that he was hoping to cooperate with Chinese investors coming to the region.

He reminded that the “Investments Climate and Governance Initiative” had been signed the previous year.

- The Government has to make difficult decisions in the domain of privatization in order to make the investment climate more attractive. That’s a lot to do and the Government should get to work right away – said Berg.

According to him, the EBRD is investing over a billion euros in the Western Balkans, and Serbia is in the center of it all.

- Each year we are trying to invest more than EUR 300 mil in Serbia. The number could be even bigger in the years when big projects are undertaken. Last year we had some big projects, so the investments increased too – said Berg.

The EBRD thinks that Serbia’s economic growth will be around 2% and perhaps a little more next year, said the foreman of the European bank.

Berg said that economic growth required the reformation to be carried out and the drawing in of small and big investments.

He added that the arrival of Chinese investors and the investments in Zelezara Smederevo were also very important.

EBRD Evropska banka za obnovu i razvoj Beograd

A.D. Aerodrom Nikola Tesla Beograd

Telekom Srbija a.d. Beograd

Vlada Republike Srbije

EBRD

Nikola Tesla Airport

Telekom

Daniel Berg

Government of Serbia