BELGRADE, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Serbia said on Wednesday talks with an International Monetary Fund mission had ended 'successfully' as it seeks the release of more aid in exchange for a deal on budgets going forward.

The IMF granted a 3 billion euro ($4.4 billion) loan in May to help Serbia weather the crisis and has disbursed 800 million euros so far. Belgrade had hoped the talks would clear further payouts.

'The talks have ended successfully,' Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic told a press conference.

Albert Jaeger, the head of the IMF mission said the two sides 'have reached a good and balanced agreement and a real challenge now for the Serbian authorities is to implement the programme.'

The IMF mission has been in Belgrade for 10 days and has agreed to Serbia's plan to run a fiscal deficit of 4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2010.

The fund expects Serbia's economy to contract three percent this year and grow 1.5 percent in 2010, the lender said in a statement at the end of the talks.

In the statement the IMF also said Serb monetary policy should stay focused on inflation.

Latest inflation figures could allow 'cautious monetary policy relaxation' it said.

Last month Serbia's central bank lowered its key benchmark rate by a full point to 11 percent and said more cuts are possible if the government increases regulated prices planned for 2010 in 2009.

(Reporting by Gordana Filipovic, Writing by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Patrick Graham) Keywords: SERBIA IMF

(aleksandar.vasovic@thomsonreuters.com; +381113044902)

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