Serbian Railways reveal debt figure

Belgrade. Feb. 04, 2010 (Source: Tanjug) - Serbian Railways (ŽS) General Director Milovan Marković said on Monday that the pubic company had a debt of about RSD 2bn (EUR 20.3mn). Marković told Serbian Press Agency Tanjug that the direct debt refers to what the company owes for regular maintenance and repair. The debt was RSD 4.5bn at the beginning of 2009, which means that it has gone down by RSD 2.5bn , Marković stated. The RSD 100bn debt mentioned recently in the public represents the accounting loss, which is not a direct debt, Marković explained. "The figure circulating in some media is the accounting loss accumulated over years and decades, which is a whole different category," Marković added. "The accounting loss is a business category that does not paralyze us the way debts do," Marković noted, adding that the company paid some debts to EPS, NIS and Dunav Osiguranje (Dunav Insuranca) in 2009. Marković remarked that the accounting loss was actually the money not invested in Serbian Railways, adding that the company's total assets are at around RSD 3.5bn according to some estimates.