They also reviewed the Bill Granting Guarantee by the Republic of Serbia in favour of German Development Bank KfW, Frankfurt-am-Main, to settle the debt of Electric Power Industry of Serbia Public Enterprise, Belgrade (Project “Modernization of the Ash Disposal System of Thermal Power Plant Nikola Tesla A”) and the Bill Granting Guarantee by the Republic of Serbia in favour of German Development Bank KfW, Frankfurt-am-Main, to settle the debt of “Elektromreza Srbije” Joint Stock Company (Regional programme of energy efficiency in the transmission system).

The Bill amending the Law on Deposit Insurance and the Bill amending the Law on the Deposit Insurance Agency were presented by Minister of Finance Dr Dusan Vujovic who said that they would cut the expenses of the Deposit Insurance Fund caused by negative interest rates in Europe. The Minister said that at the same time, considering the positive interest rates of securities, they would allow for a more efficient disposal of the Fund and meet the legal requirement that the Fund must realize certain revenue. The revenue-based increase of the Fund would have a positive impact of the Serbian budget, said Minister Vujovic.

The Minister went on the present the Bill Granting Guarantee by the Republic of Serbia in favour of German Development Bank KfW, Frankfurt-am-Main, to settle the debt of Electric Power Industry of Serbia Public Enterprise, Belgrade (Project “Modernization of the Ash Disposal System of Thermal Power Plant Nikola Tesla A”) and the Bill Granting Guarantee by the Republic of Serbia in favour of German Development Bank KfW, Frankfurt-am-Main, to settle the debt of “Elektromreza Srbije” Joint Stock Company (Regional programme of energy efficiency in the transmission system), saying that these are two loan agreements with a 12-year payback period and 0.8% annual interest rate.

The Republic of Serbia 2017 Budget Law lists a 45,000,000 EUR guarantee by the Republic of Serbia on the behalf of the Recipient of the loan for the reconstruction of the cinder and ash transportation system i.e. project “Modernization of the Ash Disposal System of Thermal Power Plant Nikola Tesla A”.

Speaking of the Bill Granting Guarantee by the Republic of Serbia in favour of German Development Bank KfW, Frankfurt-am-Main, to settle the debt of “Elektromreza Srbije” Joint Stock Company (Regional programme of energy efficiency in the transmission system), Vujovic said that this is a contractual loan by which KfW loans 15,000,000 EUR to “Elektromreza Srbije” as Recipient. The condition for the use of the loan is a guarantee granted by the Republic of Serbia in favour of KfW to secure the payment of the bulk, interest and other associated fees.

Following a short discussion the Committee members accepted all the bills by majority vote.

The sitting was chaired by Committee Chairperson Dr Aleksandra Tomic, and was attended by the following Committee members and deputy members: Olivera Pesic, Srbislav Filipovic, Goran Kovacevic, Zoltan Pek, Momo Colakovic, Ivan Manojlovic, Vojslav Vujic, Zoran Bojanic and Radmilo Kostic.