Srbijagas General Manager Dusan Bajatovic has stated that the price of gas in Serbia has to go up by the year's end or that company will have to ask for new loans.

“I am of the opinion that the price of gas in Serbia has to increase by 25-30 percent until the end of 2011, because that is necessary and economically feasible. If the gas price does not change, the company will have to take out a new loan worth EUR 200 million,” Bajatovic said to the Monday issue of the Belgrade-based daily Press.

He recalled that Srbijagas has already raised a EUR 400 million loan to keep the gas price at the current level.

“The company will not be able to repay these loans by its profit, but they will be included into Serbia's public debt. The debate is underway whether a rise in the price of gas should be paid solely by consumers, which would be perfectly fair, or by all the citizens of Serbia,” Bajatovic said.