Statement of the IMF resident representative office in Belgrade

The following statement on the Republic of Serbia’s IMF-supported economic program was issued on November 26, 2010 by the International Monetary Fund’s Resident Representative Office in Belgrade:

“The Serbian authorities and the IMF Serbia team have reached a staff-level agreement on actions needed to complete the 6th review of the Stand-by Arrangement. The request for completion of the review is subject to approval by the IMF Management and the Executive Board and is expected to be considered at the Executive Board meeting in late December.

“In particular, two key steps have been agreed:

• First, the 2011 budget’s submission to parliament will be a prior action for the IMF Executive Board meeting. The 2011 deficit target, in line with the new fiscal rule adopted in the amended Budget System Law, will be 4.1 percent of GDP. There was also agreement on a set of expenditure and revenue measures needed to achieve this target. 

• Second, it was agreed that amendments to law on pension and disability insurance would be re-submitted to parliament, also as a prior action for the late-December Board meeting. Changes to the text of the amendments compared to their version submitted to parliament in June 2010, would be limited to measures strengthening protection for the most vulnerable (i.e., minimum pension) and women (i.e., a slower tightening of service credit and beneficiary years of service).”

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