Tender for RTB Bor by late March 2018

For RTB Bor, the upcoming spring may be crucial. As stated in the memorandum Serbia signed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) following the eight review of the arrangement, the state should open a tender for privatization of strategic partnership for RTB Bor by the end of March 2018, Politika writes in the issue of December 27.

This document, signed by Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, NBS Governor Jorgovanka Tabakovic and Minister of Finance Dusan Vujovic, says that there have already been talks with potential investors and that one of the topics was how to solve the problem of environmental protection.

The memorandum says that the company has been meeting all its obligations so far, “including state taxes, employee salaries and electricity bills in line with the Pre-packaged Reorganization Plan (PPRP)”.

As noted in the official correspondence between Serbia and the IMF, favorable copper prices in the international market have contributed to this, as the payment capacity of the company has been increased, enabling it to pay EPS bills regularly, the document states.

It is also noted that RTB Bor will not be getting help from the state budget next year. This year, the company received RSD 2 billion from the state budget.

IMF officials suggest that now is the time for Serbia to take advantage of a favorable situation in the international market in order to finally resolve the status of the company. The Fiscal Council also recommends this. Their latest report says that the state needs to privatize RTB Bor and Petrohemija so that those companies might initiate new investment cycles as well.

As Politika says, RTB Bor had losses of RSD 5.25 billion last year, whereas a year before, the losses amounted to RSD 13.7 billion. The losses were incurred despite a better price of copper in the world market, but also because a group of companies – Bor Copper Mine, Majdanpek Copper Mine and Topionica i Rafinacija – started the PPRP. Let us remind that over a billion euros of debt towards state creditors was written off at the time.

Serbia Zijin Copper doo Bor

Međunarodni monetarni fond-MMF Beograd

Elektroprivreda Srbije ad Beograd

Fiskalni savet Republike Srbije

HIP-Petrohemija a.d. Pančevo

Rudnik bakra Majdanpek

EPS

Bor Copper Mine

Majdanpek Copper Mine

Topionica i Rafinacija

privatization of RTB Bor

strategic partner for RTB Bor

tender for RTB Bor

copper

copper mine

price of copper

Ana Brnabic

Jorgovanka Tabakovic

Dusan Vujovic

PPRP for RTB Bor