IMF: Salary increase would require serious analysis of data

BELGRADE - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has received no official proposal from the Serbian government to discuss a possible salary and pension increase in the wake of good fiscal results in the first three months, IMF Resident Representative in Belgrade Daehaeng Kim said on Wednesday.

It is true that there are signs of recovery and that the results are better than expected, but we still need to carry out a serious analysis to see the nature of that data and whether the results are sustainable, Kim said after delivering a lecture at the Faculty of Economics.

It needs to be pointed out that the goal of neither the IMF nor the government is not to reduce the citizens' income, but to improve the fiscal position - the budget deficit and the public debt are high in Serbia, but constant efforts are needed to make and keep their levels sustainable, he added.

Kim announced that a mission of the international financial institution will be visiting Serbia from April 29, when a technical mission will arrive, and that the IMF mission will have high-level discussions with Serbian government officials from May 4 through 12.

Photo Tanjug, D. Stankovic (archive)