Serbia is in front of serious economic and social problems. High and tough inflation reduces real income, the unemployment rate is historically low, but again twice as compared to the more successful countries of Central and Eastern Europe. There is still a highly participation of work in the gray economy, and many unemployed lost their jobs and withdraw from the labor market, Mihailo Gajić, executive director of the Libertarian Club (Libek), NGOs organized by a conference called “Challenges and opportunities for growth and development “.
“After a few years of decent growth rates, the Serbian economy has grown significantly, and a low growth rate of barely more than two percent are expected this year as well. This is not enough to provide the required number of jobs, especially quality, with decent salaries and working conditions. It is especially concerned that the projected medium-term rate of economic growth of Serbia, from international financial institutions, lower than the case in years before the pandemic. This means that we need to consider and identify limiting factors for the growth of the economy, as well as new opportunities for development. Otherwise, we risk that Serbia, as well as a large number of other countries, face a medium income, and that is a situation where we would exhaust the old comparative advantages, and without finding new ones,” Gajic stated.
The conference also discussed the new free trade agreement with China and the opportunities it provides, and on this occasion Predrag Bjelic from the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade said that his goal is to open the door to the economy. It is still unknown what preferences he brings, and the problem is that such an agreement is concluded between a small and a large country, so such disproportionate negotiating power is also transferred to the contract. Neither this free trade agreement nor others, such as the one with Russia, are completely free.
For export to China, only goods with half of domestic origin can be exempt from customs duties, which is a problem for a small open economy like ours, which cannot provide all substances from domestic production.
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