Structural adjustment

BELGRADE - Serbian Finance Minister Sinisa Mali announced on Tuesday a closing meeting with an IMF mission led by Donal McGettigan had been held earlier in the day to complete a fourth - and final - review under Serbia's current standby arrangement with the IMF and that a new three-year, non-financial Policy Coordination Instrument (PCI) had been agreed with the financial institution.

This year's first Economy Coordination Board (EKK) meeting has been held, with regulations on crypto currencies topping the agenda.

Members of the board met on Jan. 22, chaired by Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz, to discuss the latest developments in the Turkish and global economy.

The government's priority is to fight inflation, Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek has said, noting that revenue and expenditure policies that would restore fiscal discipline are being implemented.

Establishing price stability remains the top priority for the government, read a statement released after a meeting of the Economy Coordination board, adding that members of the board also discussed details of the key medium-term program to be announced later this year.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva stressed in an interview with CNN that the world is changing much faster than it has changed in the last one or two for decades.

According to her, Africa is the place where investors' attention should be drawn, BNR reports.

Maintaining the macroeconomic stability and fully implementing the reforms required to tackle the basic structural deficiencies of the Serbian economy will be the main challenge for the economic policy, says Sebastian Sosa, head of the IMF Office in Serbia.

They will discuss the results of the new macroeconomic and structural reforms, supported by the PCI-Policy Coordination Instrument, the Serbian government has announced.

The Serbian delegation is led by NBS Governor Jorgovanka Tabakovic, who also represents Serbia at the IMF, and includes representatives of the ministries of finance and economy.

Turkey needs to put in place tighter monetary policy to bring inflation back to its 5 percent target in the medium term, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stated on Feb. 2.

The IMF also said Turkey's monetary policy framework needs to be improved to strengthen its effectiveness.