Serbia, The surplus in the exchange of services with the world increased by 30 percent

Published on 7. December 2022., News

According to NBS data, in the first nine months we exported services worth 7.7 billion euros, and imported services in the amount of 6.5 billion euros.

Serbia has a surplus in the exchange of services with foreign countries, and it is 30 percent higher than last year. Revenues from services exceeded expenditures in foreign exchange by 1.3 billion euros, for the first nine months of this year, according to data from the National Bank of Serbia.

Bojan Stanić, assistant director of the Strategic Analysis Sector of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, says that judging by the foreign trade exchange of services for the period from January to September this year, a record result will be recorded, which is a continuation of the growth of this sector from the previous period.

– In the observed period, according to NBS data, we exported services worth 7.7 billion euros, and imported around 6.5 billion euros. Exports and imports grew at an almost uniform rate of about 40 percent compared to the same period last year. However, taking into account the larger export base, the surplus in the exchange of services increased by 30 percent – explains Stanić.

A convincing surplus continued in the exchange of computer services, which amounted to nearly 1.4 billion euros. Also, an excellent result was achieved in the area of professional and managerial consulting services. The most important markets for our services are the USA, Germany, Great Britain, Switzerland, Russia and the United Arab Emirates. We have a convincing trade surplus with all these countries. Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Netherlands and Belgium are important export markets for our services.

On the other hand, our country has a significant deficit of around 630 billion euros in the exchange of transport services and a very slight deficit in the exchange of tourist services. We have a deficit in the exchange of services primarily with tourist countries, Greece, Turkey, Egypt. Apart from them, there is also China.

– It is important to point out that in Serbia, the accelerated growth of traffic in the field of information technologies continues and in order for this trend to continue, it is necessary to strengthen the base of IT professionals and companies operating in the country – says Stanić.

When asked whether the opening of the development centers of the American NCR, “Microsoft” and “Rivian”, as well as the Russian “Luxsoft” and “Yandex”, will further contribute to the growth of export of services, our interlocutor says that they certainly contribute to improving the competitiveness of domestic companies on the international market. What is important is that it is not only crucial to ensure the growth of the IT sector in Serbia, but also its development, and in this sense, the opening of research and development centers of large companies is seen as a great opportunity in that direction.

We export the most

Of the total export of services, almost 80 percent is exported to Europe, but about 47 percent to the European Union. With 808 million euros, the most important market for our services is Germany. The next largest export market for services from Serbia in the period from January to September was Great Britain with 631 million euros and Switzerland with 506 million euros.

In addition, 360 million euros of services were exported to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and 314 million euros to Russia.

Outside of Europe, the most important player is the USA, where we exported 896.5 million euros worth of services. Among the few countries with which we have a deficit in the exchange of services are China, to which we exported services in the amount of 103 million euros, and imported services worth 280 million euros, and Turkey, to which we sold services in the amount of 182 million euros, and imported for 460 million euros, Politika writes.

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