The board of directors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has confirmed a new advisory arrangement with Serbia, which will last for the next 30 months, the Serbian finance ministry announced on June 19. 

The new Policy Coordination Instrument (PCI) cooperation programme will run from June 2021 to the end of 2023. The Minister of Finance Sinisa Mali emphasised that the arrangement is primarily aimed at maintaining macroeconomic and financial stability.

Mali said the arrangement represents another confirmation of the successful economic policy pursued by Belgrade and is "an excellent indicator that, despite the crisis caused by the virus pandemic, we do not need financial assistance".

He added that, thanks to the new arrangement with the IMF, which is of an advisory nature, “we are sending a serious message to the international financial public and as a country we are gaining credibility”.

“We do not need money from that financial institution, but we need cooperation. In addition to an ambitious structural reform plan, the focus will be on supporting economic recovery and preserving macroeconomic and financial stability. That should lead to the improvement of the living standard, competitiveness and growth of the Serbian economy, an even greater number of foreign direct investments,” said Mali in the statement published on the government’s website.

“In the next 30 months, we will focus in particular on additional structural and institutional reforms, to ensure stronger and more intensive growth in the medium term, with a special focus on ecology. Supporting economic recovery remains the most important priority of our economic policy. We will try to reduce fiscal costs and risks and define emergency measures as needed,” Mali noted.

According to the minister, cooperation with the IMF is also aimed at reforming public companies and the Tax Administration.