Belgrade - An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission is due in Serbia within weeks to review conditions for the disbursement of a 4-billion-dollar loan, but Belgrade has not done what it promised, the country's central bank governor warned Sunday.

"I only hear what the government will not do, but nobody says what we are ready to do," Radovan Jelasic said in an interview published in the Vecernje Novosti daily. "I heard not a single concrete proposal, other than the chorus line how the IMF should allow us a larger deficit."

The IMF agreed to put the funds on standby for Serbia in March, on condition that it brings spending under control and maintains the budget deficit mark below 3 per cent of the gross domestic product.

Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic's cabinet in April announced a package of measures aimed to save money and boost revenue, but few of the measures were implemented and those that were produced lower-than-expected effects owing to the recession.

The IMF predicted a 2-per cent economic slowdown for Serbia at the time the loan was agreed, but experts meanwhile began issuing much bleaker forecasts, saying the recession could reach 5 per cent in 2009.

An outspoken critic of government economic policies, Jelasic said Serbia simply must stop spending more than it has. "I am sure cabinet ministers run their family budgets differently, or they would have already gone bankrupt," he said.

"It is irresponsible to act? Spend more, but only light candles in the church on Sunday hoping for a miracle of the end of the economic crisis in the world and an economic boom in Serbia," he said.

With dwindling revenue and its fragile ruling coalition reluctant to implement unpopular saving measures, such as reducing the public sector salaries and pensions or hiking the value added tax, Serbia has turned almost solely to borrowing.

"Nobody is thinking now what will happen in 2010 and 2011 when (short-term securities) mature," Jelasic said.

"So far, the budget is running, but the source is a loan and that cannot go on forever," Jelasic said.

The IMF mission is due in Belgrade on August 24 to review the conditions for the disbursement of the second tranche of the three-year loan.

Apart from the IMF, Serbia borrowed 100 million euros (142 million dollars) from the European Union in July for reforms and is also seeking 1 billion dollars from Moscow. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has been scheduled to visit Belgrade in October.(dpa)