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April 9, 2003 - Wednesday |
Bozidar Djelic on the petroleum and natural gas industry
Serbian Finance Minister Bozidar Djelic pointed out the four goals of government policy concerning the petroleum and natural gas industry: a strong struggle against the petroleum mafia, economic stability, resolving the problem of debts and, restructuring.
According to Djelic, NIS is a national treasure and the restructuring of this company is very important. Presently, NIS’s low competitiveness costs the government of Serbia about 20 to 30 billion dinars (€313 to €470 million) per year.
In previous years, a large part of the petroleum market was in the hands of organized crime. Profits in petroleum smuggling were 6 to 7 times greater than in cigarette smuggling. There were also suspicious agents, astonishing commissions and secret bank accounts in Switzerland, told Djelic.
During the next three years only parts of the petroleum market will be fully liberated because 25% of government budget income originates from this sector.
The biggest debt problem is debt owed to Russia for natural gas which has been delivered. Intensive, direct negotiations with Russians are on course, and the problem should be solved by this summer. Organized crime was also a feature of dealing with Russian natural gas imports.
There is no final version of the reconstruction of NIS yet.
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