The inflow of foreign direct investments (FDI) into Serbia this year will be a record, President Aleksandar Vučić said a few days ago. „I expect investments of 4.5 billion euros, which means that this year will be the most successful when it comes to this type of investment.“ „According to the data for the first few days of July, so far foreign investors have invested 2.279 billion euros,“ said Vučić.
The president also referred to key”economic data. He stated that the state will try to reduce the deficit in public finances to 2.2 percent and that we currently have five billion euros in our account. He added that since 2012, he always asked us to have an arrangement with the International Monetary Fund, because it helps us not to “go wild”.
The National Bank of Serbia (NBS) told our newspaper that, according to operational data, in the first half of 2023, an inflow of FDI was recorded in the amount of 2.122 billion euros, which represents an increase of 32 percent compared to the same period in 2022.
“We note that during the first half of last year, there was a temporary slowdown in the inflow of FDI due to the conflict in Ukraine, but as of May 2022, recovery began and the full normalization of the inflow of these investments was achieved by the end of 2022, which led to the year-on-year growth rates in the first half of this year being above average due to the low base.” The bank expects that in 2023 the inflow of FDI will be close to the record amount from 2022, during which the inflow in Serbia was 4.4 billion euros,” said the National Bank of Serbia.
When talking about their structure, according to the latest publicly available data related to inflows during the first quarter of 2023, FDI remained project-wise and geographically diverse. The largest part of investments was directed to export-oriented sectors (65.7 percent), primarily the processing industry (36.6) and professional and technical activities (11.9). Observed by country in the first quarter of 2023, the largest inflows of investments in Serbia were recorded from the Netherlands (42.1 percent), China (13.3), Great Britain (8.2), Austria (7.5) and Cyprus (7.4), while it should be borne in mind that considerable investments can come from the Netherlands and due to the fact that some foreign investors, due to tax benefits, make their investments from subsidiaries in the Netherlands, even though the headquarters of the parent company is in another country.
“As was the case in the previous few years, the factors that were decisive for attracting FDI were achieved and preserved macroeconomic, financial and fiscal stability, as well as the improvement of the overall investment environment and implemented structural reforms.” These factors contributed to FDI remaining at a stable and high level despite the global crises of the past years, from the corona virus pandemic, through the energy crisis, including the outbreak of conflict in Ukraine and, on that basis, increased geopolitical tensions”, the NBS stated for our newspaper.
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