IMF granted about 3 billion EUR worth of new arrangement to Serbia

International Monetary Fund (IMF) granted new "stand-by" arrangement to Serbia on Friday night. This arrangement is worth 2.9 billion EUR or about 4 billion USD, 799m of which can be withdrawn by Serbia right away.

New "stand-by" arrangement should be withdrawn prior to mid-April 2011. According to the words of the Deputy Director of the Executive Board of the Fund and Acting President, Muril Portugal from Brasil, the authorities in Belgrade have improved the strategy related to confrontation with current challenges of the global economic crisis, which, as he pointed out, deserves further support of the international community.

As he explained, by granting this "stand-by" arrangement, IMF is trying to significantly alleviate economic difficulties that the country is facing at the moment.

- Through strict application of the Government's programme, this arrangement provides security that Serbia will overcome current difficulties - said Portugal and added that the funds would be used for maintenance of fiscal stability, banks' solvency and stable exchange rate of Dinar.

However, he warned that the Government must reduce consumption, strictly take care of the level of inflation, resume much postponed structural reforms and be ready for drop in economy in 2009 with the limited growth prospects in 2010.