November 5 (SeeNews) - Serbia plans to borrow up to 580 million euro ($645.4 million) next year to finance the construction of the Belgrade metro network, the government's 2020 draft budget shows.
Serbia plans to borrow 80 million euro from the French government for the first phase of the Belgrade metro construction project, plus 500 million euro from foreign investment corporations, banks and funds, according to the budget draft published on the parliament's website.
In July, the French government signed a letter of intent to support the construction of the Belgrade metro network. The letter of intent envisages negotiations on the possibility of concluding an intergovernmental agreement on the means of financing of the first phase of the project.
In 2020, the Serbian government will approve project and programme loans of up to 9.181 billion euro, the draft budget shows.
The government adopted on Saturday the 2020 draft budget, envisaging a deficit of 20.2 billion dinars ($192 million/172 million euro), equivalent to 0.3% of the gross domestic product (GDP). Revenues are expected to come in at 1.314 trillion dinars, wjile expenses are planned at 1.335 trillion dinars.
($ = 0.898642 euro)