EBRD to approve EUR 800 million loan to Serbia

This was announced by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) President Suma Chakrabarti, who spoke in Belgrade on Friday.

He told Tanjug that Serbia can count on a EUR 400 million EBRD loan this year and probably the same amount of money in 2013.“Of course, a lot of it depends on the policies pursued by the government and investment opportunities, but I hope that we will achieve the same level in both years, Chakrabarti said. I think that Serbia has great needs and that our investment in projects in Serbia over the next few years are much needed,” he added.

According to Chakrabarti, Europe, Serbia and other countries in the region are going through difficult times, and Serbia has to introduce reform measures like others had.

In order to prevent a harsh recession from hitting Serbia, it is very important for the country’s government to cope with the very large budget deficit, he said.

It is necessary for Serbia to turn to the IMF, as well as to other countries, for help, Chakrabarti said, adding that it is necessary to improve the business climate in the country.

“I know that the new government is very interested in attracting domestic and foreign investment, so it should adopt regulations that are appealing to investors and create such a framework, and we think that that we can help achieve that,” said the EBRD president.

Commenting on the recent cut made to Serbia’s credit rating, Chakrabarti said that it would not negatively affect the future operations of the EBRD in the country, as it was the EBRD’s job to try and assist states in improving their credit rating.

“If the countries had high, superior credit ratings, there would be no need for EBRD investments, so our goal is to help the countries that are in situations similar to the one Serbia is in right now cope with these problems,” he said.