At the sitting held on 15 July, the Finance Committee considered the particulars of the Bill on the Budgetary System, the Bill amending and modifying the Law on Republic Administrative Fees and the Bill granting guarantee by the Republic of Serbia in favour of “MARFIN BANK” Belgrade under the debt of Public Enterprise “Serbian Roads”.

The deputies had submitted a total of 82 amendments to the Bill on the Budgetary System. The Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Finance Committee accepted 17 of the amendments. The Government submitted 3 amendments to articles 22, 107 and 112 of the Bill, and the Finance Committee submitted 5 amendments of its own to articles 4, 17, 28, 31 and the caption above article 57.

The deputies had submitted a total of 11 amendments to the Bill amending and modifying the Law on Republic Administrative Fees, out of which the Government and Finance Committee accepted none.

A total of 5 amendments had been submitted to the Bill granting guarantee by the Republic of Serbia in favour of “MARFIN BANK” Belgrade under the debt of Public Enterprise “Serbian Roads”, none of which were accepted by the Government and Finance Committee

The Committee members went on to consider in principle the Bill amending and modifying the Law on Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism, the Bill on the Confirmation of the Loan Agreement (additional financing for the health system project) between the Republic of Serbia and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Bill on the Confirmation of the Financial Contract between the Republic of Serbia and the European Investment Bank and the National Bank of Serbia “Apex Loans for small and medium-sized enterprises”, submitted by the Government of the Republic of Serbia.

Representatives of the Ministry of Finance presented the Bills to the Committee members stressing that the Bill amending and modifying the Law on Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism specifies the provisions concerning the business transactions of economic subjects and determines the responsibility of persons in the legal subject more precisely.

The Bill on the Confirmation of the Loan Agreement (additional financing for the health system project) between the Republic of Serbia and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development continues the financing of the health system project, begun in 2003, by 10.5 million EUR. The terms and conditions of the loan are standard World Bank conditions, six-month LIBOR – 005, 17-year repayment period with 5-year grace period.

The Bill on the Confirmation of the Financial Contract between the Republic of Serbia and the European Investment Bank and the National Bank of Serbia “Apex Loans for small and medium-sized enterprises”, submitted by the Government of the Republic of Serbia, represents the third Apex of 250 million EUR and is intended for the crediting of small and medium-sized enterprises and entrepreneurs. The Republic of Serbia is the borrower, the National Bank is the agent, and commercial banks are the mediators. 70% of the funds must be used for financing small and medium-sized enterprises, while 30% can be utilized to finance public enterprises. The maximum amount of a single request may not exceed 12.5 million EUR. The terms of the loan depend on the ultimate beneficiary i.e. purpose of the loan, and the repayment periods are 7, 12 and 15 years.
Following a short discussion, the Committee members accepted all three Bills in principle, by a majority of votes.

The sitting was chaired by the Committee Chairman, Zoran Krasic.