Serbia Introduces Unofficial State of Emergency Until March 31

BELGRADE (Sputnik) - Serbian authorities are introducing an unofficial state of emergency from August 1 to March 31 in connection with the global crisis and its impact on energy and food supplies, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said.

"August is just around the corner. Until the end of March a state of emergency will be in Serbia, even though we will not introduce it officially," Vucic told Serbian broadcaster TV Pink, adding that currently a large part of the budget is being spent on covering additional expenses in the energy and social sphere.

According to the president, under a new three-year contract with Gazprom, Serbia is now receiving gas at a price of $350-$370 per thousand cubic meters for the first two billion cubic meters per year. Belgrade is also "forced" to buy another billion cubic meters required to meet the needs of the country at the market price, he said.

"We have allocated 560 million euros [$572 million] for this. This is a very large sum of money. I am saying this so that people understand how difficult this is for the government," Vucic said, stressing that this kind of spending is possible only due to a successful fiscal policy, financial stability and the expected GDP of 58 billion euros.

On Thursday morning, Vucic said that high temperatures in the Balkans pose a threat to the crop harvest and have led to a decrease in the water level in the Danube and problems with coal transport, while simultaneously increasing electricity consumption. According to the president, this creates difficulties in the production of electricity, which the Serbian authorities are forced to import.

Gas prices in Europe have skyrocketed this week, reaching $2,500 per thousand cubic meters on Wednesday, after Gazprom announced its plans to reduce supplies via a key gas pipeline starting July 27 to no more than 33 million cubic meters per day, 20% of the pipeline's nominal capacity.