Two thirds of the Serbian economy needs to invest, but businessmen either do not have access to adequate financial resources or are afraid of the uncertainty that the crisis brings with it, according to a survey by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on the attitudes of 1,000 companies.
“This year, 84% of businessmen still use their own funds for investing, which means that when a businessman wants to invest, he has to take 70 cents out of his own pocket. As long as own funds are used to finance business to such a large extent, economic growth will be slower and weaker,” said Dragana Stanojevic, Director of USAID’s Economic Development Cooperation Project.
According to her, we should think about expanding the range of sources of financing and their offers, in order for the economy to gain momentum.
Stanojevic said that when it comes to the placement of products and services outside Serbia, research has shown that there has been a slight decline this year.
“The decline was accompanied by an increase in exports to the countries of the former Yugoslavia, except Slovenia and Croatia, with a decline in exports to the EU and Russia, which can be explained by the crisis caused by the pandemic that oriented exporters to closer markets,” she said.
Stojanovic added that the majority of companies, 75 percent of the respondents, maintained the level of employees during the crisis as before, a smaller number, 14 percent, hired new workers.
“This year, about 30 percent of businessmen report a drop in income, profit and demand for products and services, which is a better result than the previous year, when every other company declared so. Micro, small and medium enterprises continue to report a larger drop in income and are especially endangered by the crisis,” she said.
She added that the pandemic endangers all important parts of the business, especially the plans for further investments, liquidity, supply flows.
“For the first time this year, the assessment of the gray economy is such that less than half of the respondents believe that it negatively affects their business, and traditionally the highest assessment was given to the amount of taxes and contributions on salaries,” Stojanovic pointed out.
Digitalisation and e-commerce, which have opened up new opportunities for exports and growth, have been highlighted as the most important measures taken to mitigate the impact of the pandemic. The drivers of growth are companies that are digitally present and those that use external financing. These companies operate more successfully and have growth rates higher than the average growth rate of companies in Serbia, a USAID survey showed.
“By timely development of eCommerce in Serbia through clearly defined strategic goals, we have provided a good and fertile ground for further development and improvement of digital competencies in the SME sector, for raising advanced digital skills of all citizens, as well as for adequate raising of digital skills in relation to the needs of the labor markets,” said Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications Tatjana Matic.
She added that in the first six months of 2021, there was a significant increase compared to 2020, where the number of online transactions increased by 91 percent.
The President of the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia, Marko Cadez, stated that the export of the Serbian economy is growing during the pandemic, it is almost 30% higher in eight months compared to the same period last year, which speaks of preserving the capacity.
“However, 60 percent of our exports are realized by only 345 large companies, and it is very important that we support small and medium-sized companies to enter export business,” Cadez noted.
He pointed out that PKS has been organizing Supplier Days with international companies for years in order to include as many smaller companies as possible in their supply chains.
US Ambassador to Serbia Anthony Godfrey said that small and medium enterprises around the world, as well as in the United States and Serbia, are the drivers of economic growth, and that many businessmen, especially in e-commerce, have seen their development opportunity, Danas reports.
