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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

234 housing loans approved within government programme

Belgrade, 20 October 2005

Serbian Minister of Finance Mladjan Dinkic said today that since September 15 the ministry has approved 234 housing loans within the government programme for young couples less than 45 years of age, and promised that the procedure for granting loans will be accelerated and reduced to 15 days at the most.

At a press conference at which the first recipients of housing loans issued by Raiffeisenbank were announced, Dinkic said that the greatest number of applications, 368 to be precise, were submitted at this bank’s branch offices. Out of these, the ministry and the National Corporation for Housing Loan Insurance approved 234 loans, and 59 loans have already been paid out, with the average loan figure of €29,000.

He recalled that approximately 900 million dinars from the budget was allocated for subsidising housing loans and announced that in 2006 this figure will be tripled and will amount to 2.8 billion dinars.

Along with the participation of banks, approximately 9 billion dinars should be set aside for the 2006 subsidising programme alone, said Dinkic and voiced hope that there will be an expansion in the real-estate market next year, because a bill on mortgages is to be adopted.

Several clients of Raiffeisenbank who were among the first to get the subsidised housing loans were also present at the conference. They commented on the loan’s lengthy payout period, problems regarding real-estate registry due to the non-existence of a mortgage law, the high taxes on mortgages and the problems that arise from real-estate agents who demand a down payment.

Talking about the high taxes on mortgages, Dinkic said the tax is under legislative jurisdiction since it is covered under the Law on Court Fees, but promised to try to cut the period from the moment of submitting the application to the actual payout down to 15 days.

Director of the National Corporation for Housing Loan Insurance Aleksandar Jovic pointed out that when a bank forwards applications for loans to the Corporation, they are processed within a day, provided that the Corporation receives them during its working hours, until 4 pm.

Chairman of Raiffeisenbank Belgrade Budimir Kostic specified that the bank processes applications for subsidised housing loans within 24 hours and promised to consider the possibility of giving loans to clients for the down payments as well.