BELGRADE: Serbia's central bank (NBS) has extended until March 2022 a credit line with the European Central Bank put in place to safeguard its banking system against the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

The repo line, for euro loans to banks via repurchase agreements, was capped at 1 billion euros ($1.20 billion) last July and was initially set to expire in June 2021.

"So far, the NBS has not had the need to use funds from the ECB's repo line, and we do not expect to use them..., but (want them) to be an additional guarantor of security," the bank said in a statement on Thursday.

Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania also secured access to euro liquidity last year via repo or swap lines with the ECB in the wake of the pandemic.

The Serbian central bank kept its benchmark rate at 1% in January citing challenges posed by the pandemic.