The World Bank said it has approved\u00a0a 182.6\u00a0million euro ($194.7 million) development policy loan to Serbia, in order to support the country in improving its management of public expenditures and making energy and transport public utilities more efficient.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0reforms are important strategic objectives in the context of Serbia\u2019s EU accession process, the World Bank said in a statement on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cA more efficient public administration and performing public utilities are\u00a0among\u00a0the critical missing links in making the Serbian economy more\u00a0investment friendly,\u201d the World Bank’s country director for the Western Balkans, Ellen Goldstein, said in the statement. \u201cThe reforms supported under this program will therefore help attract private investors and contribute to job creation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reforms to be backed by the First Public Expenditure and Public Utilities Development Policy Loan (PEPU DPL) include revising the legislative and policy framework for public sector employment, reforming the pay and grading system, and adjusting staffing levels in a structured manner.<\/p>\n
Reforms in the energy and transport sector have been long delayed due to systemic institutional weakness and strong vested interests, the World Bank said. It noted, however, that the Serbian government has launched an ambitious reform plan for these entities with the adoption of financial consolidation plans supported by the development policy loan. For example, the Serbian government has adjusted electricity tariffs, with the changes accompanied by measures to limit their impact on vulnerable households, while efforts are being made to improve operational efficiency in the electricity utility through reducing labour costs.<\/p>\n
In terms of rail service, a new financing policy and performance criteria will guide the operation of new state rail companies, and a process of labor rightsizing is ongoing. Apart from generating fiscal benefits, enhanced efficiency in public enterprises and state-owned companies\u00a0will improve Serbia\u2019s investment climate, by addressing infrastructure deficiencies and providing rapid access to reliable electricity which\u00a0continue\u00a0to feature among the concerns listed by potential investors in Serbia, the World Bank pointed out.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, the\u00a0World Bank\u00a0increased its projection for Serbia’s economic growth in 2017 to 2.8%, half of a percentage point higher than the forecast made in June. Serbia’s 2016 GDP growth rate is estimated at 2.5%, up 0.7 percentage point compared to the June forecast, the\u00a0World Bank\u00a0said in its January 2017 Global Economic Prospects Report.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The World Bank said it has approved\u00a0a 182.6\u00a0million euro ($194.7 million) development policy loan to Serbia, in order to support the country in improving its management of public expenditures and making energy and transport public utilities more efficient. The\u00a0reforms are important strategic objectives in the context of Serbia\u2019s EU accession process, the World Bank said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-see-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9PjAq-FT","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/poseidon-gp.com\/property\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/poseidon-gp.com\/property\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/poseidon-gp.com\/property\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poseidon-gp.com\/property\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poseidon-gp.com\/property\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/poseidon-gp.com\/property\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2597\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/poseidon-gp.com\/property\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poseidon-gp.com\/property\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poseidon-gp.com\/property\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}