The adoption of a new package of economic assistance for small and medium enterprises could happen in the next six months. This has not been confirmed yet, because it depends on the course of the epidemiological crisis, but if it happens, not everyone will probably receive help anymore, but only the sectors most endangered by the crisis, above all – tourism and passenger traffic.
Since the beginning of the epidemiological crisis, the Serbian government has helped small and medium-sized enterprises through two packages of economic assistance. The last of the five tranches of the minimum wage was paid to the employees on September 8, and the assistance of 120 percent of the minimum wage for companies established on March 15 this year will be paid on the 21st of the current month.
Although the end of the second package of measures is looming, the same cannot be said for the crisis caused by the corona virus, which in the coming period may give more headaches to entrepreneurs, especially those who are engaged in tourism or passenger traffic.
Assistant Director for Analytics of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, Bojan Stanic, pointed out that they are negotiating with the Government on a regular basis, but also that a new package of economic assistance or some other type of support to small and medium enterprises has not been agreed for now.
Stanic believes that the state still has funds that it can use to help companies in the next six months, after which the economy is expected to recover significantly.
If the state allocates funds, he notes that it will have to allocate them depending on the course of the epidemiological crisis, so as not to run out of “economic ammunition”, and adds that some businessmen will have to accept that their expectations will most likely not be met completely.
He emphasizes that the Chamber, in negotiations with the Government, insists on special assistance to the sectors that are most endangered – tourism and passenger transport – and believes that this will be the case if a new aid package is provided.
Stanic also pointed out that during the epidemic, the Chamber did not stop the project which helps start-up companies, and according to which the state guarantees them loans, but he notes that the funds for that are limited.
Rescue by selective subsidies
Economist Goran Radosavljevic agrees that the state should help by determining who needs the funds the most and directing them there, citing subsidies to hoteliers as a good example of that.
He noted that there is no “magic” solution for the next period and that the state has so far acted on analyzes and assumptions that have shown themselves well in Germany, where economic growth has been recorded, but he believes that this practice is not good for Serbia in the long run.
“The effect of that was good in the short term, because the decline in the second quarter was not great. Some sectors, such as retail, have started to grow again. Except for one or two months, there was no significant decline in the sectors that were affected by the crisis,” Radosavljevic points out.
The editor of the “Kamatica” portal, Dusan Uzelac, notes that it is necessary to improve the business environment in Serbia, because that would stimulate economic activities.
“From the point of view of the state, that would be the understanding of all its services. To know that the tax inspection is not older than the economy and that there should be a relationship of cooperation and partnership, and not some rougher relationship that was dominant in the previous period. It is getting milder now,” Uzelac notes.
He believes that it would be important for the survival of small and medium enterprises that domestic products replace those that are now difficult to import, and points out that the Serbian Chamber of Commerce promotes our producers and encourages keeping money “at home”.
Since the beginning of the epidemiological crisis, the Serbian government has allocated a total of 1.083 billion euros from the budget in order to pay five minimum tranches to employees in small and medium enterprises. The payment of taxes and contributions was postponed on several occasions, and the National Bank of Serbia approved moratoriums on the payment of loans.
The total value of the package of economic measures for citizens and the economy is about 5.8 billion euros, or 12.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), Sputnik News reports.
