Mali: IMF has confirmed our economy is fully stable, growing

BELGRADE - Serbian Finance Minister Sinisa Mali said on Friday the IMF Executive Board had approved a second review of an arrangement with Serbia and that the institution's report confirmed the Serbian economy was fully stable, strong and still growing.

"This is nice, important and big news for Serbian citizens. Despite all the challenges, the enormous global crisis, the IMF - not Aleksandar Vucic, not Sinisa Mali, but the most important, the most eminent financial institution in the world - has released a report that says we are fully stable, that our economy is fully stable, that we are strong and that we are growing, in spite of all the global problems," Mali said in a statement to Tanjug.

He said Serbia's excellent economic performance had made it possible to treat a stand-by arrangement as a precautionary arrangement one review earlier.

"Next year will be laden with challenges but, in spite of all that, the IMF has decided to switch the stand-by arrangement it has with Serbia to a precautionary arrangement, which is one level below. We still have some 400 mln euros available that we can draw if we need to, but this is important news for investors and for Serbian citizens," Mali said.

"We also expect a record-high FDI inflow this year. So, investments are coming to Serbia and will total 4.4-4.5 bln euros this year. Factories are being opened and, very importantly, we are still growing," Mali noted.