The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development sees revived investor interest in Serbia, with agriculture as the main underused industry in the country.
The bank is getting an increasing number of foreign inquiries about Serbia, including from France, Austria and Germany and more confidence among Serbian businesses, said Hildegard Gacek, the EBRD’s top representative in the country.
“There seems to be a better environment as companies are much less worried, much more positive than they were a year ago,” she said in an interview at a business gathering in Belgrade today. “The Serbian potential isn’t used sufficiently, especially in agribusiness for increasing production, We would really like to encourage it, it’s a natural tool for export.”
London-based lender also sees Serbia as a “very convenient location” from which business operations can cover much of the Balkans, and as a production point that has free trade agreements with Russia and Turkey, Gacek said.
The EBRD’s lending activity in Serbia may remain close to last year’s total of 590 million euros ($777.3 million), she said, “but the atmosphere in the country is starting to become positive again.”
Source:bloomberg
