After the recent borrowing of three billion euros through Eurobonds, today (Tuesday, May 12), the state will also offer dinar bonds worth 10 billion dinars (about 85 million euros) to investors. As stated by the Public Debt Administration Ministry of Finance, these are five-year securities with an annual coupon rate of 4,5 percent and reopening on July 28, 2025, the Biznis.rs portal announced.
So far this year, five auctions have been held at which government securities were offered, and the volume of indebtedness amounted to around one billion euros. Another auction is planned for the middle of the year - on June 9.
According to the Budget Law, the state's plan is to borrow 8,3 billion euros this year. Taking into account the dinar and Eurobonds issued so far, the state already borrowed about half of that amount by May, not counting other sources of financing.
During March, dinar government securities with a maturity of five years in the amount of 2,7 billion dinars were issued, while funds in the amount of 17 billion dinars were withdrawn based on project and program loans, according to the report of the Public Debt Administration on the last day of March. During the same month, liabilities in the amount of 22,5 billion dinars were repaid.
An increase in the state's debt to banks
When comparing the structure of indebtedness in March compared to February, the data show that the state increased its indebtedness to commercial banks by 100 million euros, which reached 5,27 billion euros.
The share of the direct debt of the state to banks continued to grow this year as well, after last year's increase in borrowing on the basis of loans amounted to 807 million euros. During the last year, the state preferred to choose more flexible, but also more expensive, arrangements with banks, even though the price of Serbian debt on the international market recorded a slight decline, more precisely, the state could borrow more cheaply.
At the same time, in March, the debt to the Chinese Export-Import Bank increased by almost 80 million euros, so the state debt to this bank now amounts to 2,85 billion euros. On the other hand, in March, the state reduced its debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by a total of around 100 million euros, as well as its credit obligations to foreign governments.
The share of public debt in foreign currency at the end of March was 78,9 percent, while the rest is in dinars. 61 percent of the debt is in euros, 12 percent is in dollars and 5,6 percent is in Special Drawing Rights (SDR).
The share of non-residents in the portfolio of dinar government securities at the end of March 2026 is 12,9 percent, i.e. 101,3 billion dinars.
The last borrowing based on Eurobonds in the amount of three billion euros from the end of April will only be included in the next report of the Public Debt Administration, and then it will be seen how much of that money is intended for refinancing old debts, and how much is new state debt.
The share of public debt of the central level of government in GDP at the end of March 2026 is 41,7 percent, and the share of public debt of the state sector in GDP is 42 percent. The public debt of the central level of government in March 2026 compared to the previous month increased by 18,8 billion dinars and amounted to 4.620 billion dinars (39,4 billion euros).
It is not easy to predict at what price Serbia could borrow in the coming period
By the way, in March there was a turnaround on the bond market, so the yields on our bonds rose by more than half a percentage point on average due to expected inflationary pressures and interest rate increases, and the situation calmed down a bit in April.
Therefore, it is not easy to predict at what price Serbia could borrow in the coming period, but experts estimate that more expensive debt is the general trend on the European capital market, where yields on ten-year bonds are growing for Germany and Italy, and for Serbia as well.
Vladan Pavlović from Ipopema Securities told Biznis.rs that the price at which the state borrowed three billion euros ten days ago is solid, given that the currency in which the loan was made is the euro. However, as he assessed, the interest rate is in line with the country's risk profile.
Momentum Securities chief broker Nenad Gujaničić estimated in an earlier statement for Biznis.rs that, if the crisis in the energy market continues, the state will borrow more expensively in the coming period if it decides to raise capital to pay off due debt, service interest or settle a possible bigger budget deficit.
The regular professor of the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade, Đorđe Đukić, is of a similar opinion, who recently said that ten-year bonds, as benchmarks for all countries in the world, which reflect the impulse of American monetary policy, are going in the direction that the required returns of investors will be higher due to the growing risk premium.
According to Đukić, investors will expect higher yields on the bonds they buy, even for countries that have an investment rating.
The report for March shows that the structure of the public debt has not changed much, so by far the largest share of 10,3 billion euros still falls on the Eurobonds of the Republic of Serbia, followed by long-term government bonds in dinars in the amount of 6,7 billion euros, while loans from commercial banks are right behind with claims of 5,27 billion euros.
Source: Biznis.rs
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