IMF expects no changes in NBS work

Belgrade, March, 30. 2010 (Source: B92) - The International Monetary Fund does not expect any changes in the NBS’s strategy after the resignation of Governor Radovan Jelasic. The IMF representative in Serbia Bogdan Lissovolik said that the arrangement which IMF has with Serbia is in power and that the agreed framework for economic policies is being implemented.
He said that the government's decision of to sell 40 percent of the shares of Telekom Srbija is a good chance for revitalizing the important process of privatization in the country, but added that he did not wish comment on the Telekom case "in this phase". Asked how he sees the government role in controlling the functioning of public companies, Lissovolik said that he could be concluded that the state control in this field is still at a very high level. “It is a fact that a large number of state companies are continuing to produce losses. That is, among other things, a key reason why the participation of the private sector in the total Serbian economy is less than in similar transitional economies such as the ones in Poland and Slovakia.” He said that in these countries, the private sector makes up 75-80 percent of the total economy, while in Serbia, it only carries 60 percent. “Greater participation of the private sector could be a key factor in the Serbian transition towards building a new, sustainable model of growth based on exports,” Lissovolik said.