Will There Be A Revision Of The Buy Off Of Apartments?

by Zoran Jelicic

The session of the Serbian Economic Council held on Wednesday behind closed doors, was called in order to discuss the policy proposed by National Bank of Yugoslavia Governor Dragoslav Avramovic. However, the main and only topic of discussion at the meeting is not being talked about. The topic broached by academician and Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic's economic advisor Kosta Mihajlovic is the talk of the town.

Mihajlovic called for some kind of order, justice and equality among citizens when buying off apartments, and cited his own example. He paid 26,000 DEM for his flat (or 200 DEM/sq. meter) while some other tenants in the same building, later bought flats of the same size for only 600800 DEM. Mihajlovic has reached the conclusion that 100 DEM/sq. meter is a just sum of money, and that the authorities owe him half the sum he paid. Mihajlovic did not say who among those who bought their apartments for small sums should make up the difference (the state, the party or all those who bought their apartments for sums below the just 100 DEM/sq. meter). It will remain a secret if Mihajlovic would have hit on this idea if by some chance he had found himself among those who had bought apartments of over 100 sq. meters for less than 1,000 DEM.

It is important to note Mihajlovic's sense of economic justice and the economy: it is not just if the buyers pay different prices for the same goods, regardless of the fact that each of those transactions was carried out in accordance with the rules and regulations in force at the time. Perhaps all this wouldn't merit much attention if it weren't for the fact that Djordje Djukic, a member of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) hadn't come up with the same idea, but concerning another field, at the above meeting of the Economic Council of Serbia. This time the matter concerns a proposal for the taking away of all inflationary and hyperinflationary gains made by economic subjects in the past year, especially from those who made them thanks to cheap credit from the primary issue.

It will be a good thing, both for a healthy dinar and the Law, without which there can be no national currency, if it proves that it was pure chance that two prominent SPS members decided to bring up the question of justice after five decades of life with the Law being interpreted from the revolutionary point of view. At any rate, it will be interesting to hear what the majority of SPS members think on the subject. And if there are no comments in the public, then we will be able to deduce their real views from the fate of the contracts on the buy off of apartments.