This paper examines Serbia and Montenegro’s Third Review Under the Extended Arrangement and Requests for Waiver of Performance Criterion. Serbia and Montenegro’s recent economic performance has been mixed, combining excellent progress in some areas with an uncomfortably large current account deficit and modest growth in output and exports from low levels. The envisaged tightening of fiscal policy is broadly appropriate—albeit overly reliant on revenue measures. Achieving the fiscal deficit target will help narrow the current account deficit and place the fiscal and external accounts on sustainable paths.
This paper assesses Serbia and Montenegro’s First Review Under the Extended Arrangement (EA). Serbia and Montenegro’s economic and policy performance has remained good under the current EA, but daunting challenges lie ahead. Macroeconomic policies need to be carefully calibrated to address potential risks to macroeconomic and financial instability, while the task of economic restructuring will be increasingly difficult. The IMF staff welcomes the authorities’ commitment to address delays in the adoption of reform legislation that led to nonobservance of some structural benchmarks and notes the need to avoid new slippages.