The IMF will not shut down but rather transform its mission to BiH, the IMF said in a statement Monday (June 9th). It refuted the previous day's declaration by BiH Central Bank Governor Kemal Kozaric that the IMF would close its Sarajevo office due to the lack of any IMF programme in BiH for the past four years. "The IMF office will remain in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the foreseeable future," the statement read.

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Kosovo's auditor general published a report Wednesday (June 11th) criticising the ministry of trade and industry's financial practices in 2006, underlining violations committed by the ministry that cost millions of euros. The office found 67 income and expenditure violations and misallocations of capital investment. The auditors also said that the ministry failed to document expenditures of 2.3m euros.

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Serbia received less foreign financial aid in 2007 than in 2006, a reflection of progress on reforms, outgoing Finance Minister Mirko Cvetkovic said on Thursday (June 12th). Serbia received 370m euros in financial aid last year, 130m euros less than in 2006.

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A US-Swiss consortium won the tender to buy 85% of ARMO, the only state-owned oil company in Albania, the economics ministry said on Monday (June 9th). The Refinery Associates of Texas, Switzerland's Mercuria Energy Group Ltd., and Anika Enterprises offered 125m euros. Observers expect a formal contract signing later this month.

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The Croatian government adopted a revised plan to develop the national natural gas network by 2011. The goal is to reduce Croatia's dependency on natural gas from Russia, as current imports from Russia account for 40% of total domestic demand and are likely to trend upward.

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The Greek government named George Provopoulos as the new governor of the country's central bank on Wednesday (June 11th). Provopoulos, 58, will succeed Nicholas Garganas, who will step down from the post next week. Provopoulos is the former CEO of Greece's fourth biggest lender, Piraeus Bank.

(Various sources – 06/06/08-13/06/08)