In the last decade, 3,017 state-owned companies were privatized in Serbia, and almost 65 percent of them have been or are about to be closed.
Only 35 percent are still running their businesses, a survey carried out by the Serbian Social-Economic Council showed.
In the process of privatization from 2002- 2011, they made a profit worth EUR 2.6bn, and three quarters of their workers lost the job, noted the survey.
The Serbian Privatization Agency cited the following reasons for termination of the contract- failure to pay installments (as the sum was usually paid in installments), failure to maintain the business, failure to respect social program, “irresponsible buyers”.
Members of the Serbian Social-Economic Council’s working body presented the results of their survey entitled “Effects of Privatization in Serbia” at a news conference on Wednesday.
Their conclusion is that the effects of privatization are devastating and should be taken into account during the forthcoming restructuring of public sector so that these errors would not be repeated.
