IMF Opens Fourth Review, Mali Targets 2.75% Deficit
An IMF delegation led by Anet Kjobe met with Finance Minister Sinisa Mali on the fourth PCI review. The same day, Vucic says Serbia holds nearly five billion euros.
A delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), led by Serbia mission chief Anet Kjobe, met on Thursday at the Ministry of Finance with Finance Minister in a technical mandate Sinisa Mali to open the fourth review of the country’s current arrangement with the Fund. The news broke at 9:40 a.m., and the talks covered Serbia’s key macroeconomic indicators, the Ministry of Finance said.
The arrangement in question is the Policy Coordination Instrument (PCI), a non-financial program that does not involve Serbia drawing IMF money but instead serves as a framework for monitoring the country’s economic policy. It runs for 36 months, from December 2024 to December 2027. The third PCI review was closed at the IMF Executive Board’s session on June 15, 2026, and the fourth is set to go before the same board on December 11, 2026.
What Mali Promised the IMF
At the meeting, Mali laid out a deadline for the next budget and a specific deficit ceiling:
“We have done everything to keep Serbia stable while not interrupting the investment cycle. The budget for next year will be ready by the end of the year, and I expect the deficit to stay within the 2.75 percent limit, as we promised.”
The minister described this as a goal he had flagged before. He added that Serbia is keeping public debt stable and under control while also ranking among the fastest growing economies in Europe. He also pointed to July inflation of 1.9 percent, calling it a solid result given the external economic pressures, and to next year’s Expo exhibition in Serbia, for which more than 140 countries and international organizations have so far confirmed participation.
This outlet previously reported on Mali’s dispute over a 980.6 million euro aid package, as well as on S&P’s downgraded growth forecast for Serbia to 3.2 percent ahead of the elections. Thursday’s meeting with the IMF comes against that same backdrop, at a time when the state of the treasury is being questioned in public.
Vucic: “We Have Almost Five Billion Euros in the Account”
On the same day the IMF mission sat down at the Ministry of Finance, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic addressed reports in the media, in a phone-in on TV Informer, that the treasury had no money for one-off aid payments, public sector wage increases and pensions. He denied the claims:
“We have already paid out the one-off aid, and the 6,000 dinars will follow on September 22. All salaries and pensions are paid on time. We have almost five billion euros in the account.”
He added that Serbia also holds 31 billion euros in foreign currency reserves. Vucic also said he expects the IMF to keep giving Serbia positive marks:
“Nobody is touching our credit rating, it can only improve. We have no problems at all, we are very stable, and the only problem we have is with oil and gas prices, but we have found enough money for that too, people don’t need to worry.”
Next Deadline: Electricity Prices by October 1
Beyond the two public appearances on the same day, the arrangement also carries a commitment that is about to come due. Serbia pledged to the IMF that it would raise regulated household electricity prices by October 1, 2026, at the latest. As of late August, Elektroprivreda Srbije, the state power utility, had still not filed a request with the Energy Agency, according to the latest available information. With less than two weeks left until that deadline, meeting commitments like this one is exactly what the IMF mission is checking before the fourth review reaches the Fund’s Executive Board on December 11.
