BELGRADE, Dec 12 (Hina) - The governors and vice-governors of central banks which emerged after the break-up of the former Yugoslav federation failed to reach an agreement on the distribution of gold and foreign currency reserves at
the International Bank for Settlements in Basel in Belgrade on Tuesday. Unlike all previous years, when the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was stalling talks about succession, the latest halt has been caused by Macedonia's request that the balance sheet of assets in the Basel bank be made before any decisions are adopted. At a joint news conference, the governor of Yugoslavia's central bank, Mladjan Dinkic, said the bank held 46 tonnes of gold, 8,000 bonds and a certain amount of foreign currency worth US$477 million. Dinkic said the value of the gold was reduced by US$114 million due to a drop in the price of gold on the world market. He expressed dissatisfaction
BELGRADE, Dec 12 (Hina) - The governors and vice-governors of
central banks which emerged after the break-up of the former
Yugoslav federation failed to reach an agreement on the
distribution of gold and foreign currency reserves at the
International Bank for Settlements in Basel in Belgrade on
Tuesday.
Unlike all previous years, when the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
was stalling talks about succession, the latest halt has been
caused by Macedonia's request that the balance sheet of assets in
the Basel bank be made before any decisions are adopted.
At a joint news conference, the governor of Yugoslavia's central
bank, Mladjan Dinkic, said the bank held 46 tonnes of gold, 8,000
bonds and a certain amount of foreign currency worth US$477
million.
Dinkic said the value of the gold was reduced by US$114 million due
to a drop in the price of gold on the world market.
He expressed dissatisfaction that Bosnia-Herzegovina and
Macedonia requested that the property from the bank be distributed
in line with a European Central Bank model and not in line with a
model of the International Monetary Fund, to which Slovenia and
Croatia had agreed.
Croatia and Slovenia, as the two most developed former Yugoslav
republics, made the highest contributions to the then joint state
and in case the European Central Bank model is applied, they will
get a worse deal in the distribution of the joint property whereas
other republics will be in a more favourable position than they
would if the IMF model was applied.
Bosnia-Herzegovina has offered a combined property distribution
model but it will be discussed at the next meeting in Zagreb in
January or at a Brussels meeting of state succession commissions on
December 18.
The governor of the Macedonian National Bank denied that Macedonia
was stalling an agreement adding that a month more should not be a
problem given that other countries had waited for Yugoslavia all
previous years.
Given the unexpected halt, Dinkic said Yugoslavia would contact the
Basel bank and request membership and right to draw a loan, as had
been already done by other countries. The Yugoslav central bank
accepts the model advocated by Croatia and Slovenia as well as the
model requested by Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia because it
believes that reaching an agreement soon is more important than the
value a country would lose or gain.
Dinkic today explained the issue of the gold Serbia had contributed
to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, dismissing the
widely-held opinion that the gold in Basel was actually the Serbian
gold to which the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia had the exclusive
right. Dinkic said the gold was in Basel and was mostly spent but
Yugoslavia would address that question at other succession
meetings.
(hina) rml