KOPAONIK

KOPAONIK - The USD 1 billion loan that Serbia is set to obtain from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is very favourable and the money should be used to repay or refinance the most expensive loans and invest in development, the president of the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) Council of the Governor Nebojsa Savic said on Thursday.

KOPAONIK - The crisis in Ukraine is not affecting the gas price in Serbia, Srbijagas CEO Dusan Bajatovic said on Wednesday, adding that gas reserves are enough for households during this heating season.

KOPAONIK - Serbia is setting up a domestic power exchange named Sepex, in which the French partner, Epex Spot, will have 25 percent of the stake, and the Serbian national grid operator Elektromreza Srbije - 75 percent, Nikola Petrovic, the director of the public company, announced on Wednesday.

KOPAONIK - Strengthening the rule of law, institutions, justice system and harmonizing Serbia's foreign policy with that of the EU are just some of the recommendations that ambassadors of the EU member states and the Unites States see as the priorities for Belgrade along its path toward EU membership.

KOPAONIK - Serbian Minister of Finance Lazar Krstic said on Wednesday that an agreement with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on a USD 1 billion budgetary loan and a loan for irrigation, worth USD 100 million, will be signed on Thursday.

KOPAONIK - Tanja Miscevic, Serbia's chief negotiator with the EU, stated on Wednesday that the next government should adopt as soon as possible the legislation on labor, bankruptcy and privatization that has been prepared, as well as a great number of bylaws.

KOPAONIK - Serbia needs to conduct a fiscal consolidation in order to reduce public spending, President of the Council of the Governor of the National Bank of Serbia Nebojsa Savic has said.

KOPAONIK - Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said Tuesday that the project to build a section of the South Stream gas pipeline in Serbia is being held back by the problem of provision of state guarantees and called for the issue to be resolved as soon as possible.

KOPAONIK - The World Bank (WB) will start negotiations with the new Serbian government on a USD 250 million loan towards budgetary support as soon as reform laws are adopted and a restructuring of 153 state and socially-owned companies is initiated, Tony Verheijen, the World Bank Country Manager for Serbia, told Tanjug on Tuesday.

KOPAONIK - Ivica Dacic, Serbia's outgoing prime minister and leader of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), said on Tuesday that he could not say which parties would form a new government, after early parliamentary elections set for March 16, and whether the SPS would be part of a ruling coalition.