BELGRADE: Serbia's Deposit Insurance Agency has sold a portfolio of bad loans held by eight banks that have gone bankrupt since 2000, amounting to 1.82 billion euros ($2.19 billion), the finance ministry said on Tuesday.

The statement did not say who purchased the portfolio or the price paid.

In June 2019 the debt management agency sold about 240 million euros of bad loans, in line with a now-expired arrangement between Belgrade and the International Monetary Fund.

Serbia's non-performing loans ratio fell to 3.7% by the end of 2020, down from 4.1% in 2019 and 17% in 2016.