A mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will visit Belgrade in May to start preliminary talks on a precautionary stand-by arrangement with Serbia, Head of the IMF Office in Serba Bogdan Lissovolik said Thursday.

In a statement with Tanjug, Lissovolik specified that the mission is expected to start work on May 18.

According to him, the mission will focus on macroeconomic trends and projections, as well as measures targeted at the key weaknesses of Serbia's economy.

This set of measures will serve as the basis for the precautionary arrangement with Serbia, Lissovolik added.

He pointed out that IMF representatives and Serbian officials have agreed to start talks next week, and the Serbian government has said it would like the new arrangement to start in September.

We plan to discuss this over two missions - the mission in May could make a preliminary draft for the program of measures, while the second mission toward the end of the summer would conclude the talks, Lissovolik said.

Serbia concluded a two-year stand-by arrangement with the IMF on April 15, which granted it around EUR 3 billion intended for boosting the country's foreign exchange reserves, but it only withdrew half of the funds.

Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic visited Washington in mid April for the spring sessions of the World Bank and the IMF, where he discussed a new precautionary arrangement between the IMF and Serbia, which would not obligate the country to withdraw new funds.