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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Privatisation of socially-owned companies to be completed next year

Belgrade, 29 May 2007

Serbian Minister of Economy and Regional Development Mladjan Dinkic said today that the process of privatisation of socially-owned companies in Serbia will be completed during next year, and the plans about its completion will be presented within a month.

Speaking at a panel discussion called "Economists propose to the new government", Dinkic said that for privatisation of public companies, such as the Oil Industry of Serbia (NIS) and Jat Airways, it will be necessary to pass separate laws that will define the way and dynamics of the privatisation and the distribution of the proceeds.

Speaking about priorities of the Ministry, Dinkic said that they are acceleration of privatisation, further attraction of foreign investment and maintenance of their continuity, assistance to the development of the sector of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), increase of employment and exports, as well as equal regional development and quicker development of tourism.

The Ministry will also activate the work of the Agency for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and connect it with the Development Fund, which in the next period should deal in the first place with SMEs and development of underdeveloped regions.

According to him, the Ministry will also back up the establishment of an agency for equal regional development and will renew the work of the National Council for Competitiveness. It also plans to set up a fund that would help turn innovations into finished products.

Dinkic announced that a new measure for help in financing business starters through loans without mortgage will be introduced from September, and added that work will be done on removing administrative hurdles for foreign investors.

The export insurance fund needs recapitalisation since the present capital is very small, said the Minister and announced that Serbian parliament will soon consider the CEFTA for ratification, which has already been ratified by all countries of the South East Europe.

Dinkic pointed to the fact that the budget for this year should require a minimum of balancing, but it could also be slightly in surplus since the surplus from the six-month interim financing will stand at RSD 30 billion.