Serbia and the International Monetary Fund have reached an agreement on a new 18-month, $1.4 billion standby loan for the Balkan country.
The chief of the IMF delegation, Albert Jaeger, said Wednesday the deal will help the country preserve its stability and improve its investment climate. Serbia will only draw from the loan if necessary to help insure the country against financial shocks.
Jaeger added that recent financial data has been disappointing, and has forced the IMF to revise the growth figures downward as Serbia tries to recover from a serious economic downturn.
Serbia’s gross domestic product had been projected to grow at a rate of 3 percent in 2011 and 4.5 percent in 2012. Those figures have been lowered to 2 percent in 2011 and 3 percent in 2012.