Serbia: Srbijagas missing 200MEUR for ongoing business, will address to banks for loans

Published on 25. October 2013., News Serbia Energy

For this heating season will certainly be enough of gas, but thing with which we currently face is the lack of money, says director of Srbijagas Dusan Bajatovic. He said that it is a 200 MEUR that the company will try to look at the banking market.

He announced in Krusevac, where he attended the continuation of gasification of the town, that the plan of reorganization of Srbijagas, which will be presented to the public, will be submitted to the Government for a few days, as it had been arranged.

“We are missing about 200 MEUR, but we’ll look for them in the banking market for the simple reason that the gas isto be  delivered mainly to district heating plants … and they should not work with the losses by decree of the Ministry of Energy, so we need another year to catch the rhythm to pay the gas as it comes”, Bajatovic told reporters.

What will surely be a burden for the budget in the next year are Srbijagas debts incurred in the past five years, he said and added that in the period of each year law existed on the debts of Srbijagas, which was applied every time for the current liquidity.

“This means that it was known that one day it will be the public debt,” said General Manager of Srbjgas, and said that at the time ineffective social policy had been led.

“This Government is firmly of the opinion to introduce a whole new policy not only in Srbijagas but in the public sector and those in charge of these companies have nothing to think about, they must act as requested by the Government, but it is hard to do overnight,” Bajatovic clarified.

He says that the public company could operate profitably by mid-next year, provided that the gas is delivered and paid, and that its price is economically realistic.

The point is that it takes time to put things in place and we will do so, said Bajatovic.

Source; Serbia Energy