Meeting for review of Viennese agreement with banks on February 26th

The representatives of the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) will speak tomorrow (February 26, 2010) in Vienna to the representatives of foreign banks that operate in Serbia about their crediting terms in Serbian market.

According to earlier Vienna Agreement, which was signed in late March 2009, the banks were obliged not to reduce total amount of approved loans in Serbia in 2009 when compared to year 2008.

That Agreement was supposed to make it possible for Serbian economy to maintain liquidity and level of production at the time of the economic crisis with the help of banking loans.

According to the new agreement, the banks should be freed from that obligation. The Governor of NBS, Radovan Jelašić, said that they would be able to reduce their loans in Serbian market by up to 20%.

It is estimated that domestic economy is coming out of the recession and that there is no need any more for such administrative measures.

The condition for Serbia to make the initial Vienna Agreement with the banks was that it first reached the agreement with International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the new meeting in Vienna will be attended by the members of the IMF's Mission, which finished the third review of the credit arrangement with Serbia on February 23rd.