Official talks between the Serbian government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Mission on the seventh, final revision of the stand-by arrangement will begin with a plenary meeting at the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) in Belgrade on Monday.

Apart from NBS Governor Dejan Soskic, the meeting will be attended by Deputy Prime Ministers Mladjan Dinkic, Jovan Krkobabic and Bozidar Djelic, Finance Minister Diana Dragutinovic and President of the NBS Council Bosko Zivkovic.

The IMF Mission, headed by Albert Jaeger, is staying in Belgrade from February 9-23.

The main topics of the Serbia-IMF talks will include the latest fiscal, monetary and balance of payments trends, fulfillment of the 2010 implementation criteria and the realization of goals of the economic program agreed with the IMF.

The talks will also cover the issue of strengthening the framework for collection and restructuring of corporate debt, which should be determined by the end of February 2011.

Serbia has so far used about EUR 1.51 billion for the strengthening of the country's foreign currency reserves, out of the total of almost EUR 3 billion granted in May 2009.

Minister Ljajic to meet with IMF delegation Monday

Serbia's Minister of Labor and Social Policy Rasim Ljajic will meet Monday with a delegation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), led by Albert Jaeger.

According to a release issued by Ljajic's office, he will meet with the IMF delegation at the Palace of Serbia.

Official talks between the Serbian government and the IMF on the seventh and final review of Serbia's Stand By-Arrangement will start Monday with a plenary meeting at the National Bank of Serbia (NBS).

In addition to NBS Governor Dejan Soskic, who is representing Serbia in the IMF, the meeting will also include deputy prime ministers Mladjan Dinkic, Jovan Krkobabic and Bozidar Djelic, Finance Minister Diana Dragutinovic and President of the NBS Council Bosko Zivkovic.

The IMF mission is in Belgrade from February 9 to 23, as part of the final quarterly review of the results achieved in the implementation of the Stand-By Arrangement.

The arrangement signed in May 2009 granted Serbia around EUR 3 billion for boosting foreign exchange reserves, of which EUR 1.51 billion have been disbursed so far.