Serbia Reached a Deal with IMF on a $516 Million Loan

As reported by RGE,

• Serbia secured a $516mn standby loan from the IMF, the fourth Eastern European nation (after Hungary, Ukraine and Belarus) to tap the institution for funds, to help stabilize the economy during the global financial crisis. The govt. said it would not necessarily draw any funds from the loan but wants to restore investor confidence in Serbia
• Global financial turmoil has made investors risk averse, resulting in a continued currency decline and sharp fall in the main stock indices. Since the beginning of October, Serbian central bank (NBS) has used €472mn ($601mn) to slow the slide of dinar, which has weakened 20% against the dollar during August-November. Official hard currency reserves fell to $12bn in October from $14bn in September