Last Thursday, a high ranking Serbian official confirmed that he had sought help from the UAE in the form of a low-interest long-term loan in order to repay some of the debts incurred by the Balkan country as well invest to resuscitate its ailing economy.
The projections are Serbia's economy would grow by a conservative 2.5% this year. The main drawback is the rising deficit at 4.7% of GDP together with debt of 65% of GDP.
One of the mans Belgrade is seeking to jumpstart its economy is through a USD1 billion Eurobond to be released this year. Another avenue is borrowing from the domestic credit as well as reaching out to other sovereign wealth creditors such as China, Russia and the United Arab Emirates.
In a television broadcast, Deputy Prime Minister Alexsandar Vucic said, "I have recently... asked my friend, Sheikh Bin Zayed for USD2 billion or USD3 billion, at the lowest interest rate, for twenty to thirty years." Vucic's friend is referred to UAE's Crown Prince Mohammaed Bin Zayed.
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