Serbia’s Deposit Insurance Agency has invited bids for the sale of a non-performing loan (NPL) portfolio of 1.82 billion euro ($1.98 billion). This was reported by the regional media SeeNews, citing a statement from the country’s finance ministry.

Investors can submit letters of interest by November 8 and the deadline for placing non-binding bids expires on December 2, the finance ministry said in a statement on Monday. The deadline for submission of binding offers is April 15, 2020, the finance ministry said.

The sale of NPLs was part of Serbia’s 30-month Policy Coordination Instrument (PCI) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), finance minister Sinisa Mali said in the statement. “In this way we are releasing property that has been trapped for years, which will return to the economic flows,” he added.

In February, the finance ministry sells the portfolio of EUR 11.3 million of non-performing loans. The portfolio included 240 million euro loans of Serbia’s insolvent lenders Agrobanka, Nova Agrobanka, Univerzal Banka, Privredna Banka Beograd and Razvojna Banka Vojvodine.

The Deposit Insurance Agency is an autonomous legal entity, which performs activities set forth by the several laws and is functionally independent from any state body and public funding.

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