Statement of the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Mr. Igor Lukšić, PhD., on the occasion of the meeting with the IMF and the World Bank.

"... We must go back and recall that almost whole last year was spent on communication with the IMF regarding the possibility of using funds. Many countries in the region and some other European countries have entered this story, while we felt that there is no need to rush to the arrangement, i.e., we did not require urgent funding, and on the other hand the IMF, in the first phase of the crisis, has set before us some conditions which for us would mean the further deepening of the recession. In the meantime, the IMF changed its position, under the influence of the G-20 in the first place, thus we came in the situation in which the International Monetary Fund was in principle willing to tolerate the budgetary deficit, being at the same time supported by a certain programme of reducing the deficit and budgetary balancing, in to say, next two to three, and on the other hand it was ready to put at disposal a part of the budgetary funds as a budget support ...".