Djilas Warns of Serbia’s Rampant Foreign Debt

Dragan Djilas (BETAPHOTO/AMIR HAMZAGIC)

In an Aug. 2 statement addressed to Finance Minister Sinisa Mali, Freedom and Justice Party leader Dragan Djilas maintained that Mali’s “irresponsibility” is bound to increase Serbia’s foreign debt to EUR50 billion.

According to Djilas, Mali took out loans worth EUR20 billion and only invested six billion of those funds into the country’s infrastructure. The remaining fourteen, Djilas said, were either spent on day-to-day funding or “have vanished into thin air.”

“I’d like to recall that you’ve continued such harmful behavior over the past nine months as well, having taken out lines of credit from the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (USD1 billion), the IMF (EUR2.4 billion), the EBRD (EUR300 million to ensure the liquidity of the EPS [power utility]) and two loans from the World Bank (EUR220 million for public institutions and public finances). A total of four billion euros in credit and not a single [of those euros] have been spent on financing new public works,” Djilas said.

The Freedom and Justice Party head further stated that Mali also increased Serbia’s external debt by issuing USD1.75 billion in bonds on the international market – of which, again, none were spent on public development.

His party, Djilas stressed, insists on systemic changes, including putting a stop to the rampant increase of the country’s foreign debt, building the country’s infrastructure using EU non-refundable grants instead of expensive lines of credit from foreign governments, supporting domestic production and speeding up Euro-integrations.