ECONOMY

Serbian market watchdog body fired in entirety

BELGRADE (Reuters) – The authorities of the state union of Serbia and Montenegro have dismissed all members of Serbia’s Securities Commission, leaving the financial market of the larger member state without a watchdog. The Securities Commission is one of seven bodies that was supposed to have been taken over by Serbia in February when Serbia and Montenegro ended their federation ties and launched a looser, downsized state union. «This creates an institutional vacuum,» dismissed member of the Securities Commission Milko Stimac told Reuters. Serbia has a new financial markets law that will take effect on June 1, when a new body would have to be set up. Members of the watchdog said on Monday that the decree, passed by the Council of Ministers of the new state union and published in the official gazette without citing a reason for the dismissal, followed the body’s decision to seek more transparent trading in Serbia’s T-bills. It also wanted to tighten control of corporate debt issues and monitor closely firms’ indebtedness and creditworthiness. Serbia launched treasury bills in April, tapping the local market for the first time for supplement budgetary financing. «We wanted to look at the way T-bills were priced and access to the market,» Stimac said. Without the commission, the market will slow down, independent financial analyst Djordje Djukic said.

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