Yugoslav bank governor accuses Serbian PM

Irresponsible, because this being the umpteenth time that he has appeared in public with such a statement, one would think that he was intentionally inciting inflationary expectations. Incompetent, because the position on which our negotiations with the IMF are based is that inflation in 2003, at the annual level, is going to be 9 per cent. If Djindjic were thinking about a 70 dinar to 1 euro rate of exchange, providing that his statement has been correctly conveyed, then that would mean that our annual inflation would exceed 50 per cent, Governor of the National Bank of Yugoslavia [NBJ] Mladjan Dinkic told Glas javnosti.

"If that is what Djindjic wants, I, as the central bank governor, cannot uphold it and I consider that the prime minister should concern himself with matters on which he is competent. That means he should focus more on corruption in state institutions and on combating crime. Furthermore, all reports, including the ones that the IMF has, indicate that the growth in our exports this year is higher than projected, and that they top the figure mentioned by Prime Minister Djindjic, as Serbia's exports have increased by 20 per cent," Dinkic specified.

Dinkic stressed that the present structure of the Serbian economy is such that it simply cannot produce any greater increase in exports. "I understand the prime minister's nervousness and that he would want higher exports, but then he should think what steps need to be taken to stimulate their growth, for instance to rally parliament deputies to adopt a law on the formation of a fund that would support export operations, the one that was announced months ago," the governor said.

"The people have already grown accustomed to Prime Minister Djindjic's excursions with regard to the dinar rate of exchange. However, as nothing has happened so far, I think that his philosophising and theorizing will not upset them. The National Bank of Yugoslavia and the republican ministry of finance are taking care of the dinar rate of exchange, and as both institutions pursue a responsible policy, the dinar rate of exchange will remain stable," said Dinkic decisively.