IMF, Serbia discuss access to loan (AP)

AP - An International Monetary Fund mission agreed for crisis-stricken Serbia to make another draw from a standby loan, officials said Thursday, but warned that recovery is slower than expected.

Serbia opens talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to agree an emergency loan worth up to 2bn euros.

An International Monetary Fund mission visits Serbia to decide whether to release the second tranche of a 3bn euros loan.

The International Monetary Fund approved Wednesday the release of 167.5 million dollars to Iceland as part of a standby loan agreement to support the country's recession-stricken economy.The IMF said its executive board had completed its first review of Iceland?s economic performance under a program supported by a stand-by arrangement, allowing for the immediate disbursement of the money.The loan is the second installment of the agreement and brings total disbursements to 1.061 billion dollars.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) agrees to lend Serbia 3bn euros (£2.8bn; $4.1bn) to help it through the economic downturn.

Serbian authorities and the International Monetary Fund were drawing close to an agreement on the terms of emergency loan funds, Economy Minister Mladjan Dinkic said on Friday."I believe that the negotiations will be successful," Dinkic said in a statement, adding that the talks "are going in a good direction."Serbian state television RTS reported that the two sides reached an accord on Serbia's budget for 2010, without introducing an increase of VAT and with a planned deficit of four percent of GDP, half a percent lower than in 2009.

Serbia may cut one-fifth of the 70,000 employed in the public sector to satisfy the terms of an IMF loan.

The International Monetary Fund's executive board has approved a loan of 402.5 million euros to Serbia to help it cope with the global financial crisis.