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Ministry of Finance 2001 - 2004
During mymandate as the Ministerof Finance(2001 - 2004), we conducted oneof the fastest andmost successfulpublic finance reforms intransition countries.In that period, my team and I created and directed a 12,000 person strong administration and managed a 10 bn euro budget. Serbia was recognized as the leading reformist country by the EBRD in 2001 and 2002.
 | Reduced budget deficit from 15% of GDP in 2000 to 3.4% in 2003 |
| Inflation reduced from 133% to 7.8% |
| Foreign direct investments increased from $25 m USD to $1,300 m USD, making Serbia the leader in South Eastern Europe |
| Negotiated and implemented three IMF programs in three years, including a spotless execution of the first two years of a three-year extended arrangement |
| Managed over 60 negotiations on wages and benefits with all main unions of the country: teachers, doctors, miners, industrial workers, etc. Introduced annual forward-looking and forecast-based bargaining process with unions which served as a key anchor for policy making and planning. Drastically reduced the number of lost hours in strikes in the public sector. |
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Public finances and fight against corruption |
| Led the fight against gasoline and cigarette smuggling, which increased overall budget revenues by 25% |
| Launched the introduction of fiscal cash registers at 200,000 points of sales, significantly reducing tax evasion and fraud |
| Defended successfully 50 laws in Parliament, including the organic laws on budget, customs, tax and public procurement. Overall, this represented the deepest reform of public finances since WWII |
| Coordinated the fight against corruption for the government: created an independent Council for the fight against corruption, defended a modern Law on political party financing which was unanimously adopted by Parliament in July 2003. |
| Negotiated a 67% debt cut from the Paris Club in November 2001 and led successful negotiations with Chinese and Russian creditors. Overall, settled more than $9 billion USD of debt |
| Led three rounds of negotiations with the London Club of creditors over circa $2 billion USD of debt, bringing positions closer together and proposing innovative uses of debt to advance negotiations |
| Presided over the privatization process leading to the takeover by Philip Morris and BAT of the two national tobacco companies through an unanimously lauded fair and transparent process, with the highest valuations of the sector in recent history (16 and 20 times EBIT) |
| Governor for Serbia and Montenegro of the EBRD, London, and vice governor for Serbia and Montenegro of the World bank, Washington |
| Negotiated successfully with the EBRD President Jean Lemierre and the Board to hold their Annual Meeting in Belgrade in 2005. |
| Merged over a dozen previously separate units to form a modern Ministry. Reorganized the 11,900 strong administration, redefined job descriptions, led an IT-driven business process redesign, organized an intense training and evaluation program |
| Gathered more than 30 million euros of grants for the modernization of the Ministry from various donors : European Union, USA, France, Germany, Netherlands, UK, Italy |
| Managed as President of the Board of Directors of the Belgrade Stock Exchange an IT and infrastructure modernization, in particular through agreements with the Athens and Luxembourg exchanges. |
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