Mali: Serbia to adopt public enterprises law by mid-2023

BELGRADE - Serbian Finance Minister Sinisa Mali says a new law on management of state-owned enterprises, under preparation in collaboration with the IMF, is due to be passed by the parliament by mid-2023.

In a statement to Tanjug, Mali said that, under the new articles of association of the national power company EPS, the appointment of its director will no longer require government consent, which will ensure better management and financial growth of the company.

In the future, EPS directors will be appointed by the supervisory board, which will also assume the responsibility for the work of the director and the company's operations, which will have to meet the objectives set in the business plan.

That is a huge change and allegations of government influence or managers being linked with political parties will no longer serve as excuses for poor management, Mali said.

"Our entire agreement with the IMF is geared towards continuing the reforms, and reforms of state-owned enterprises are something that is very important to us. During this crisis, we have seen all the weaknesses of the existing system, as well as that there are problems in management of the enterprises. We want to improve that, and that is why we are amending the law to enable further professionalisation and corporate management with a view to making the enterprises more efficient, and to making them the engine of our economic growth again," Mali said.

Mali noted that the energy sector held great potential for future growth of the Serbian economy and that not only a status transformation but also major investments were ahead of EPS.

"To avoid any doubt - EPS will remain a state-owned company, so energy is very important to us and anyone who says otherwise does not speak the truth," Mali said.

Under the agreement with the IMF, we also need to have an investment plan for the energy sector by end-May, Mali said.

He noted that EPS would be transformed from a public enterprise into a fully state-owned closed joint stock company.