The Serbian government on Thursday adopted a revised 2010 budget that would limit the public deficit to 4.8% of output, in line with an agreement with the International Monetary Fund, the Beta news agency reported.

The revised budget was agreed with a delegation from the IMF during a visit to Belgrade in November, Serbian Finance Minister Diana Dragutinovic said.

The IMF and Serbia agreed that the budget shortfall wouldn’t exceed 4.8% of gross domestic product in 2010 and 4.5% of GDP in 2011.
 
Serbia was hit hard by the global economic downturn and the government has so far had to submit a new budget every four months, the minister told Beta.

Dragutinovic added that the 2011 budget would also be discussed with the IMF, with Serbian press reports saying that the expected deficit next year is a subject of disagreement between Belgrade and the IMF.
 
The IMF, which has granted Serbia a stand-by loan to weather the economic crisis, insists that Belgrade reduce the deficit, cut public spending and freeze public-sector wages until April 2011 as a condition to receive further installments from the loan, according to press reports.
 
November 18, 2010
AFP

• A Permanent Economic Emergency