Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Mirko Cvetkovic will meet with an International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission led by Albert Jaeger on Wednesday, the government office for media relations has announced.

The IMF will stay in Belgrade until May 27 to discuss a precautionary stand-by arrangement with Serbian officials.

Cvetkovic stated that the talks regarding the arrangement will be finished in two to three months and that a new arrangement will be signed afterwards.

"Since Serbia has not used all the funds from the previous stand-by arrangement, we do not need more money from the IMF, but we do need the expertise of that financial institution," he noted.

The prime minister said one mission would probably not be enough to work out the arrangement, adding that it was normal procedure when trying to sign an agreement with the IMF.

The arrangement has to be backed by certain reforms, which will be the topic of the visit to Belgrade, said Cvetkovic.

Head of the IMF office in Serbia Bogdan Lissovolik told Tanjug earlier that the mission would focus on macroeconomic trends and projections and steps taken to address the key weaknesses of the Serbian economy.

Those steps will serve as the basis for the new arrangement with Serbia, Lissovolik remarked, adding that the government wanted the arrangement to start in September.

Serbia completed a two-year stand by arrangement with the IMF on April 15. The arrangement provided the country with EUR 3 billion to strenghten its foreign exchange reserve, but only a half of the funds was used.