Serbia: Prices Stable and Production Up in May; Rising Csd Still Squeezing Exports but New Asset Sales and Likely Eu Talks Revival Will Keep External Deficit Covered
Hilfe Daily Briefing › October 19, 2009
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Summary
EU and NATO fears of Serbia's liberals losing their reform incentive, and even losing office in early elections, have raised the prospect of talks on an association agreement restarting even without the arrest of fugitive former general Ratko Mladic. Yesterday's Kosovo summit in Vienna, where leaders of the UN-administered province made their formal request for independence, confirmed that Serbia has lost the battle to regain sovereignty but can expect strong international protection for the remaining Kosovan Serbs. The political blow from the loss of Kosovo would be economically offset by a compensatory rise in EU structural assistance, as Brussels tries to stabilise the Balkans through a faster revival of the former Yugoslavia's economies. However, reformist groups, of which the president's Democratic Party is now the most popular, may struggle to hold on to power despite the nationalist opposition's failure to capitalise on earlier political setbacks. Inflation stood still and production growth picked up towards the end of Q2, enabling the finance minister to announce a new programme of infrastructure improvement. But with the strong CSD, tighter budget and sharply higher interest rates now restraining the revival, a slowdown in advance of the election may be hard to avoid.
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Serbia: Prices Stable and Production Up in May; Rising Csd Still Squeezing Exports but New Asset Sales and Likely Eu Talks Revival Will Keep External Deficit Covered
UN, EU reject Serbs' Kosovo claim but confirm tough conditions for independence
Yesterday's UN-chaired meeting in Vienna formally tabled for the first time the proposition of independence for Kosovo, the province of 2m people that many Serbs regard as central to their culture as well as important to their economy. Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica attended the meeting to put the case for Kosovo to be kept under continued Serbian sovereig...See the full content of this document
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