Serbia’s central bank governor on Tuesday warned the crisis-hit countries of central and eastern Europe not to rely solely on external support from the European Union and other international institutions but to focus as well on internal economic reform.

Radovan Jelasic’s message, in an article published in the international editions of today’s Financial Times, is at odds with that of governments seeking emergency assistance, including his own, which is in talks with the International Monetary Fund over increasing its standby loan from $520m (€400m, £369m) to $4bn.