Politicians voice stands for and against IMF measures

BELGRADE - Serbia needs reforms, political party officials agreed at the conference on economic directions of Serbia's development but they did not achieve an agreement as to whether or not the measures of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) should be implemented in the reform process.

The early parliamentary elections will be held on Sunday. The IMF mission arrived in Belgrade on February 26 and will stay in the country until March 13.

Addressing the gathering on Serbia's economic direction and the 2014 elections, Vice President of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) Dusan Bajatovic said that he is against the implementation of IMF measures because these cannot contribute to the economic growth of any country, Serbia included.

This does not means that the talks with the IMF should not take place, Bajatovic said and added that it should be borne in mind that the measures recommended by the international financial institution can entail high costs for the country.
The economy of growth which Serbia needs cannot be based on IMF rules, Bajatovic said.

The candidate of the list 'Enough of That' and former minister of economy Sasa Radulovic replied that the task of IMF is not to draft Serbia's economic growth plans but instead to assess the country's success in this sense and rate the quality of its fiscal policy.

IMF does not dictate anything, it simply assesses if our plans are realistic and it is willing to provide assistance in case we are willing to help ourselves, Radulovic said.

Serbia has a crony economy and a parasitical system and it is not willing to dismantle them, Radulovic said and underscored that there is no will to carry out difficult reforms.

Replying to reporters'...