Gas pipeline Serbia (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic, File)
A bill discussed by the Parliament of Serbia is expected to allow Srbijagas, the national gas utility, to use state guarantees to take a EUR200 million loan from six banks, says a Jan. 19 press release.
The loan is to help Srbijagas pay for gas imports, with the consent of the finance minister. Srbijagas will be borrowing from Banca Intesa, Raiffeisen Bank, Komercijalna Banka, Sberbank, OTB Bank and Nova Ljubljanska Banka.
A rationale to the bill says that early in November last year a pipeline rupture halted natural gas flows from Bulgaria to Serbia, forcing Srbijagas to make emergency gas imports from Hungary, “securing safe gas operations for all consumers, households and industry, but the effort involved Srbijagas’ own funds as well.”
The Serbian Ministry of Finance found that the liquidity of the company would be threatened without new borrowing, because the company had been forced to import additional quantities of natural gas at much higher prices in order to guarantee a safe and continuous gas supply at home.
To get full access to all content of interest see our
Subscription offer
Or
Register for free
And read up to 5 articles each month.
Already have an account? Please Log in.