Business operations in Serbia: Key insights from 2023 report

In 2023, Serbia saw 119,684 entrepreneurs using the double-entry bookkeeping system, according to the Annual Report on Business Operations released by the Agency for Business Registers (APR).

The APR’s preliminary data shows that 117,115 entrepreneurs employed a total of 233,094 workers. The majority of entrepreneurs operated in non-tradable sectors, with 99,360 (84.8%) in these fields, and they employed the largest share of workers—179,635 (77.1%). Key sectors included:

• Wholesale and retail trade: 32.4% of entrepreneurs and 28.6% of workers.
• Processing industry: 14.2% of entrepreneurs and 22.1% of workers.
• Accommodation services and food: 13.8% of entrepreneurs and 16.9% of workers.
• Professional, scientific, innovative and technical activities: 9.1% of entrepreneurs and 7.1% of workers.

By the end of 2023, the total business assets of these entrepreneurs were valued at 691,597 million dinars, marking a 9.5% increase from the previous year. The capital reached 305,085 million dinars, up 15.3% year-on-year.

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However, borrowing remained a significant source of financing, with total liabilities amounting to 407,344 million dinars, a 5.3% increase. Short-term borrowing was predominant, with liabilities to suppliers at 191,340 million dinars and short-term financial liabilities at 72,324 million dinars.

The report highlights a positive trend in financing: the share of own capital in total financing sources increased from 37.8% to 41.1%, while the degree of total indebtedness decreased from 1.58 to 1.43.

Business assets and capital were mainly concentrated in non-tradable sectors, accounting for 73.3% and 72.2% of the total, respectively. Entrepreneurs reported a positive net working capital of 148,787 million dinars, up 16.7% from the previous year. However, they experienced a shortfall of long-term capital amounting to 66,850 million dinars, which is 18.5% less than last year.

Non-tradable sectors contributed to over three-quarters of the positive net working capital (112,972 million dinars) and represented 73.6% of the total missing long-term capital.