In an interview to the Beta news agency, Dinkic said that according to preliminary data, NIS made record profits in the first six months of the year, which are 50% higher than last year’s total profits.
On the basis of that, NIS’s annual profit is nearing €400 million which has been offered for 51% of the company’s capital, so with two years’ profits the entire company could be bought if the price from the protocol were maintained, which is rather unrealistic, the minister underlined.
He said that the previous government engaged in negotiations on the sale of NIS, although it did not have the estimation of the company’s market value.
Dinkic said that he believes that it is possible to make an arrangement that will satisfy both sides.
For the Serbian government, it is important that citizens and NIS employees who were given free shares also get the appropriate price, and a subject of negotiations will be the way in which to valuate shares, i.e. at which price they will be released on the stock exchange or at which price they will be purchased by the Russians.
The Minister said that the energy agreement between Serbia and Russia should be initialled in the first half of September.
Dinkic said that today he sent letters to representatives of Russian authorities expressing his satisfaction over the conclusion of the energy agreement and the desire that its implementation commence as soon as possible.
He also said that according to initial estimates, the current formula which is used in Serbia for calculating the price of fuel is not appropriate and that without a real increase of production costs that formula leads to a derivatives’ price increase, which affects consumers.
The processing price charged by NIS is much higher than anywhere in the world, the Minister said and added that he will propose that a session of the Serbian government’s Committee for economy and finance be dedicated to that topic.