Serbia, creditors agree to ease credit exposure

BELGRADE Feb 26 (Reuters) - Serbia and its top creditors have agreed to ease credit exposure agreed a year ago in light of the country's improving economic outlook and prudent government policies, the central bank said in a statement on Friday.

"To support the authorities' efforts and ensure that the recovery becomes entrenched, parent banks reaffirmed their commitments to maintain adequate capitalization and exposures to Serbia in line with the macroeconomic programme for 2010," the statement said, without any other detail.

"There was a consensus that the combined effects of the Serbian authorities' macroeconomic programme and the collective efforts of banks and regulators allows for some gradual easing in the exposure commitments made in March 2009," it added.

In March last year, 10 top foreign banks signed what was dubbed the Vienna Accord with Serbia's central bank and the International Monetary Fund, agreeing to keep lending levels unchanged in 2009 and 2010.

The banks that made the commitment were Intesa Sanpaolo, Raiffeisen International RIBH.VI, Hypo Alpe-Adria AAIMg.VI, Eurobank EFG, National Bank of Greece (NBGr.AT), Unicredit (CRDI.MI), Societe Generale (SOGN.PA), Alpha Bank (ACBr.AT), Volksbank and International Piraeus Bank.

(Reporting by Gordana Filipovic; Editing by Susan Fenton)