Total debt of the 20 largest debtors, mainly state-owned companies, rose from 156 million euros to 161 million euros last year.
The total debt of the 20 largest economic debtors in Serbia, including mostly state-owned enterprises, amounted to 161 euros yesterday, which is more than a year ago when this debt was 156 million euros. At the top of the list with the largest debt to Elektroprivreda Srbije is the Smederevo Iron Works d. o.o., which owes 38 million euros.
According to this list, which is publicly available on the EPS website, “Serbia Ciđin”, unlike RTB Bor, its predecessor, is among the few companies that reduced its debt in the past year by almost 15 million euros. There are also Infostan Technology and Holding Cables from Jagodina. For the remaining 17, which are mainly in the category of public and state-owned enterprises, electricity debts have increased, indicating that the IMF’s request for the government to cease subsidizing these companies was not respected. Especially since these are the same companies that have been debt-tolerated for years and electricity is not excluded. Even the City Administration of Kragujevac, whose debt at the beginning of February amounted to 6.5 million euros, was on the seventh place in this list.
All this might not hurt the eyes of ordinary citizens if these debtors were cut off. But it’s not. Most operate normally, some are bankrupt, and they continue to spend electricity on heather. Bearing in mind this decades-long practice of every government not to exclude such debtors because they are of great importance for the economy of the country, it is clear that citizens who regularly pay bills will wonder why their debts are tolerated and some people are excluded from electricity.
Asked how long the state thinks it has double arshin to consumers, since EPS sells the same goods – electricity, prof. Dr Slobodan Ruzic, former Assistant Minister of Energy, tells Politika that it is a practice of a state that does nothing good.
– Of course EPS does not pay off to tolerate the huge debts of a relatively small number of companies, as well as the relatively small debts of a huge number of small consumers. As much as it seems to us that a business needs to be helped to survive a period of crisis in order to prevent workers from losing their jobs and no matter how noble and praiseworthy the incentives are, if it is done through non-payment of electricity bills, it causes great harm to everyone, and not just EPS – says Ruzic.
Asked how he should go on, he replies that “now there is no other option but to write down a part of these claims, as in the case of ‘Smederevo Ironworks”.
– It is a debt even before the privatization of this company, before the creation of the Ju-Es style. There are some others that are bankrupt and there is no chance that they will ever be able to repay their debt (such as Sirmium style). They should be paid what they can get out of the bankruptcy estate. Some of the listed companies reduced their debt in 2019. Obviously, they have entered into a process of reprogramming and are serious about their business obligations. They should be supported by a reasonable rescheduling to help them survive in the market and settle that debt – explains Ruzic.
However, it is crucial not to allow any single company to increase its debt year after year, which in 2019 was the case with 13 of the 20 companies on this list. If a person may have some moral dilemmas because of sentimental feelings towards miners and workers, whether to condemn the non-payment of “Resavica” or “Energetika”, although in the case of these companies such attitude is futile and wrong, it is completely incomprehensible that anyone can tolerate non-payment accounts and the increase of debt by, for example, the Kragujevac City Administration and similar institutions, our interlocutor points out.
– I really can’t understand why it’s being tolerated. Finally, when it comes to the debts of other public utility companies, this is partly due to the populist policies of their owners (municipalities) and to keeping the prices of their services depressed, and partly to their inefficiency and poor performance. There is no justification for either – explains Ruzic.
When it comes to these debtors, he should, he notes, be allowed economically justified prices, get them to do business professionally (which can be accomplished by professional instead of party management) and be forced to pay all bills regularly and be a good instead of a bad example in society.
– Firm debts are no excuse, nor an excuse for our debts. Not paying someone else does not give us the right not to pay our bills. If some political leaders show up and urge you not to pay the bills, for the sake of some higher goals, no one should listen to them, though that populist rhetoric may sound tempting. This has already been seen in Serbia and no good has been brought to society, only harm – concludes prof. Dr. Ruzic, Politika reports.
