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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

State loans by end of February

Belgrade, 9 February 2009

State Secretary at the Serbian Ministry of Economy and Regional Development Nebojsa Ciric said today that it is expected that the issuance of three kinds of loans will start by the end of February. These are liquidity loans, investment loans and loans for purchasing durable consumer goods and will be approved according to the set of measures adopted by the Serbian government.

In a statement to Radio Television Serbia, Ciric talked about loans for entrepreneurs, small, medium-sized and large enterprises, saying that the government has adopted three decrees that define the criteria related to its programme for limiting the effects of the global financial crisis.

He said that the first decree concerns short term liquidity loans, the second is related to investment loans and the third concerns loans for purchasing durable consumer goods which differ from the previous two kinds of loans in that they will also be available to the general public.

Ciric said that all three decrees will be implemented through business banks with state help.

He said that state will set aside RSD 2 billion for liquidity loans which will stimulate the banks to approve RSD 40 billion, adding that these will be short term loans for up to 12 months with an annual interest rate of 5.5%.

He said that these loans are intended for four categories of applicants, shops, small, medium-sized and big enterprises and will range from €20,000 for entrepreneurs to €2 million for large enterprises.

Ciric said that one of the basic conditions for obtaining loans is maintaining the number of present employees, specifying that from the RSD 40 billion that the banks will receive, almost half is intended for export oriented businesses, while the other half is for all other categories.

Speaking about the measures concerning large enterprises, such as the mining and metallurgical complex RTB Bor, Azotara, NSK Kinkinda, Petrohemija and similar companies, Ciric said that the government has decided to help these companies up until their partial or complete privatisation.

Ciric said that the deal with Fiat is going ahead, with some changes made to the dynamics of investing by Fiat because of the financial crisis. The production of Fiat Punto will begin by the end of March, as envisaged by the agreement with Fiat.

The interest rate for loans for buying new cars will be 4.5%, which is four times less than current market rates and work will begin in March on a programme for exchanging used cars for new, said the State Secretary.

According to Ciric, it will be possible to part-exchange used cars for a Fiat Punto with a €1,000 discount, while the cheapest Fiat Punto model will cost €5,999.