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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Government starts applying strict antimonopoly measures

Belgrade, 17 November 2005

Serbian Minister of Finance Mladjan Dinkic said today that at the proposal of the Ministry of Finance, the Serbian government has agreed to import 15,000 tonnes of sunflower cooking oil without customs duties, and thus begin to apply radical antimonopoly measures to bring order into the cooking oil market and prevent further hikes in the price of this product.

Mladjan Dinkic at today's press conference

At a press conference, Dinkic said that because of the upcoming talks with the World Trade Organisation and EU, the customs duties will not be permanently abolished, rather they will only be on hold for a period of two months. “Once we see what the effects of such measures are, we will have a basis to help us decide which actions we should take to protect consumers”, he said.

He said that in the last ten months, the price of cooking oil rose by 40.4 percent against December 2004, and 22.4 percent in October alone. Due to these increases, and to the fact that some producers are announcing yet another increase, the Ministry of Finance has determined that there is an element of monopolistic behaviour in the market and decided to take radical steps.

One of these is market liberalisation and customs free import of 15,000 tonnes of cooking oil, which is enough to supply the country’s needs for two months, said Dinkic. On the other hand, he added, in line with the adopted antimonopoly law, the Ministry of Trade will investigate whether there are elements of monopolistic behaviour in the price increase. The Ministry of Trade will also decide in the next several days whether to supply cooking oil to the market out of commodity reserves.

Dinkic said the talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) about the completion of the sixth revision of the three-year arrangement are going as planned.

An important package of laws is currently being discussed in the parliament. After its adoption, conditions for calling a session of the IMF’s Board of Directors will be created, said Dinkic and expressed expectation that the laws will be passed in the next ten days or so.

Predrag Bubalo

Serbian Minister of Economy Predrag Bubalo said that during his visit to the USA he attended the 15th Congress of Serbian Unity in Las Vegas, organised by the Serbian diaspora.

The minister said that as part of the congress in Las Vegas, an investment forum that attracted numerous US businessmen was organised. He added that the setting up of an investment fund of the diaspora representatives will be of great importance. Passing a law on investment funds will only facilitate the establishing of such a fund.

Bubalo said that he also took part in an investment forum in Washington, organised by the USA-Serbia-Montenegro Business Council. He said that simultaneously with the talks with potential US partners, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) issued its latest report according to which Serbia tops the list of 27 countries in transition as a leading reformer in the period between September 2004 and September 2005.

Serbian Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management Ivana Dulic-Markovic said that at today’s session a bill on organic production and organic products was adopted, envisaging better protection of organic products, stricter regulations regarding their labelling, as well as involvement of manufacturers in organic production.