Serbia ready for talks with IMF mission

BELGRADE - World Bank (WB) Country Manager for Serbia Tony Verheijen said Monday that Serbia was well prepared for negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Verheijen told reporters at the Belgrade City Assembly that the IMF mission was arriving in Belgrade on Tuesday for talks with representatives of the Serbian government and the National Bank of Serbia.

He said the IMF delegation would not be coming to Belgrade had Serbia not prepared properly for the talks, which would last until November 20.

Verheijen said that during the recent annual meetings of the WB and the IMF in Washington, he held long talks with Serbian Finance Minister Dusan Vujovic, who had presented to him Serbia's fiscal consolidation plans.

Verheijen said that all the details of those plans and the proposed ideas for a new arrangement between the IMF and Serbia would be reviewed in the talks with the IMF mission in Belgrade.

Despite observing that it all depends on the proposed measures to reduce Serbia's budget deficit, Verheijen expressed optimism about the outcome of the talks and eventual signing of the new arrangement between Serbia and the IMF.

Photo Tanjug, O. Toskic (illustration)