Serbian Finance Minister Diana Dragutinovic stated that while preparing the plan of budget revenues and expenditure for 2011, the government did not take into account any privatisation revenues, including the funds from the sale of the Telekom Srbija telecommunications company.

The budget plans were drafted without taking into account privatisation revenues, which is obvious if we look at the deficit funding sources, Dragutinovic pointed out in a statement for the Saturday edition of the Belgrade-based daily Novosti.

She added that the planned deficit would be covered by funds which were withdrawn earlier but were not spent, by issuing treasury bills and taking out loans from international financial institutions and commercial banks.

According to the finance minister, there is a provision in the Law on Budget which envisages that in case of privatisation of Telekom Srbija or any other public enterprise, the indebtedness level would decrease by the amount obtained in the sale.