VUJOVIC: Foreign management to be included in restructuring public enterprises

Large enterprises should make themselves capable of taking in foreign management, keep up with the world and make themselves able to refinance obligations at lower interest rates, stated Minister of Finance Dusan Vujovic on Sunday, October 9.

He said for RTS in Washington that talks with the IMF, commenced in September in Belgrade, had continued, and that they would finish in late October, also in Belgrade.

– We have also talked with the World Bank about the current projects and the plan of cooperation with the Government of Serbia on defining priorities and measuring the realization of priorities in the first 100 days of the new government – Vujovic said.

According to him, the Serbian delegation attended the meetings which have shown where the international community stands in recognizing problems of development, financing development and the focus of international organizations, on how to eliminate poverty, reduce differences between countries and prepare the world to absorb the shock of new technologies.

Vujovic has already talked with the Vice President of the World Bank for Europe and Central Asia, Cyril Muller, who said that he was pleased with the trends in the Western Balkans, including Serbia, but that he wasn't satisfied with the slow realization of restructuring public enterprises.

– Muller has noticed that the West Balkans is one of Europe's most dynamic areas. The reforms did start a bit late, but the countries are now dedicated to them and are looking to make up for the lost time – Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia are trying to keep up and achieve the same results as the countries which joined the EU in the past decade – Vujovic said.

He pointed out that the Berlin initiative was entering its final stage, that there were negotiations about the support to trade as the foundation for the development of cooperation and transit across the area where the infrastructure is one of the most important elements, as well as free trade and providing financial services enabling it.

The upcoming joint session of the governments of Serbia and Albania will be a step forward in the direction of supporting the investment project and cooperation as a foundation of future development and the perspective for all the countries in the region, Vujovic said.

The minister also said that the World Bank wished for the focus to be put on obstacles in the current stage.

– A year ago, there were obstacles to adopting the program of restructuring large public enterprises, and now we're entering the realization stage. The point is that such programs should start moving forward, that large enterprises should make themselves capable of taking in foreign management, keeping up with the world when it comes to the quality of resource management, making themselves able to refinance obligations at lower interest rates, so that they would benefit from the fact that Serbia has considerably reduced risks, which the world has recognized by lowering interest rates – Vujovic said.

He expects that the refinancing will be carried out under much more favorable conditions for both the enterprises and Serbia as a whole.

– I expect people to find their interest in the fresh approach to work and for the goals in restructuring and optimization of the number of employees in the public sector and public enterprises to be reached – Vujovic pointed out.

At this autumn's session of the World Bank and the IMF, it was concluded that there had been a mild stop in the growth of the GDP, but that the projections for 2017 were nevertheless slightly better, he added.

– The revival of the growth in China and the developing countries is expected, as well as more favorable conditions for Serbia, but that won't remove the challenges. Support to the opening of the economies will continue by accepting the changes. I liked that Christine Lagarde cited Keynes, saying that the challenge often 'lies not so much in developing new ideas, as in escaping from old ones'. I think that goes for the West Balkans, Serbia and the whole world – Vujovic concluded.

Ministarstvo finansija Republike Srbije

Međunarodni monetarni fond - MMF Beograd

Svetska Banka-WB Beograd

Dusan Vujovic

International Monetary Fund

Cyril Muller

restructuring public enterprises

Berlin initiative

infrastructure

GDP