“In the previous five years, from 2014 to 2019, the net profit of the economy has increased by more than five times, with variable annual growth dynamics. The number of employees increased by 200,719 new employees, while the number of companies increased by 11,892 companies,” said Milan Lucic, Director of the Business Registers Agency on the occasion of the publication
“Annual Report on Business Operations in 2019”, which was published today on the Agency’s website and which will not be presented at the usual press conference, due to the unstable health situation caused by the coronavirus.
Operating income and operating expenses of the economy grew at almost the same pace.
Starting in 2014, it was the last year in which the domestic economy was still gradually recovering from the previous financial crisis and was facing the consequences of the floods. The Republic of Serbia then had a decline in GDP by -1.8%, a decline in industrial production by -6.5%, the lowest number of employees in the economy (971,171 workers) and a negative net result of 1.10 billion euros.
“Since 2014, the Serbian economy has gradually grown over the next five years, as indicated by several indicators. GDP grew from -1.8% to 4.2%, or 4.4% in the last two years, while the total volume of business activities of the economy increased by almost 40%. Business revenues and operating expenses of the economy grew at almost the same pace, and to achieve better economy in the domestic economy, greater control of expenditures is needed,” said Ruzica Stamenkovic, Registrar of the Registry of Financial Statements.
Profitable business contributed to the increase of the financial capacities of the economy by over 1/4, which increased the own resources and the ability of the economy to service the debts necessary for further development. There has been a gradual reduction in accumulated losses by 7.2 percentage points cumulatively over the last five years, as the rate of lost capital has fallen from 43.7% (2014) to 36.5% (2019).
“All these results have contributed to the gradual establishment of a balance in the financing of the economy and the reduction of illiquidity, which is still not at a satisfactory level. Liquidity rates are at half of a satisfactory level, while the growth of long-term loans, together with own capital, is still not enough to finance fixed assets,” concludes Milan Lucic.
Ruzica Stamenkovic points out that the decrease in short-term loans is due to the increase in operating liabilities, which are used as a supplement to short-term financing.
She also stressed that the necessary short-term funds are still not enough to service current liabilities, but the number of companies that are illiquid for more than 90 days has decreased from more than a fifth (at the end of 2014) to 12% (at the end of 2019), BiF reports.
