Yugoslavia Issues New Currency, Scrapping Milosevic-Era Dinar
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BELGRADE, Yugoslavia — Cutting one of the last ties to former President Slobodan Milosevic’s era, Yugoslavia on Thursday issued new currency notes and ended restrictions on holding dollars and other foreign money.
“The breach with Milosevic’s old monetary policies must be both in theory and in practice,” said National Bank Governor Mladjan Dinkic. “What better way is there but to have a new, different dinar?”
Milosevic’s cash-starved government had frozen hard currency savings in personal bank accounts and imposed other obstacles to free circulation of foreign currencies.
In a drastic reversal, the state bank announced that starting today, Yugoslavs will be allowed to exchange unlimited amounts of dinars into foreign money.
“This is a historic day for Yugoslavia,” Dinkic said. “It will help the world to see us as a serious country, in the process of important economic reforms.”
Dinkic, appointed by the new pro-democracy government of President Vojislav Kostunica, is pushing for monetary reforms to bring Yugoslavia closer to mainstream Europe and the International Monetary Fund.
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