The Serbian Chamber of Commerce has formed a Crisis Team whose task is to help businessmen solve problems that are a consequence of events in Ukraine, PKS President Marko Cadez told Tanjug today and called on businessmen who have problems to contact them.
“Since yesterday, we have been organizing the crisis center, we are posting basic information on the site, regarding its work. “Companies are already calling us, some of them have people who are there, some are placing goods on the market of Russia or Ukraine, and they have a logistical problem, some cannot collect their claims because they have problems with banks,” said Cadez.
He pointed out that this morning he talked with the presidents of the chambers of commerce within the European Chamber of Commerce, that an extraordinary meeting of the Board of Directors was held to discuss how to help companies on the ground and when it comes to information exchange and announced sanctions against Russia.
According to him, the companies are in trouble now because they do not have clear guidelines on how to continue their business and that the situation on the ground is such that the business of our companies with Russia and Ukraine is difficult due to problems in money transfer, transport and logistics due to the weakening of the local currency.
When asked how the situation in Ukraine will affect the world and our economy and which branches will be most affected, he said that it is a question of one million dollars and that it is difficult to say more precisely now what the consequences will be.
“It all depends on how the situation on the ground will develop, how long the crisis will last, what intensity it will be, whether it will spill over even more to the financial sector and whether there will be a complete suspension of payments between the Russian Federation and the rest of Europe and the world.” “We can only hope that the crisis will not last long,” Cadez told Tanjug.
He pointed out that it is good that gas is still coming to Europe, but that it is not possible to know how the situation will continue and that is why it is important to monitor the situation on the ground so that we can react.
Cadez emphasized that it is now obvious how good it is that we have a contract for the supply of gas, which gives us some time to be able to mitigate the impact that is being felt all over the world.
Commenting on how the supply of food and food prices could be affected by the fact that Russia and Ukraine are the largest exporters of wheat, Cadez said that when you look at stock exchanges, you can see that prices have gone sky high, but also that grain and food prices have been constant grew.
“Some may say that this suits us in some way because we are also exporters, but it is not that simple. That wheat and corn (from Serbia) are used for food production and products of higher value, on which companies and the economy earn more “, said Cadez.
As he says, the economy of Serbia can be insured in the short and medium term, but in the long run it will certainly feel the consequences of the global economic crisis caused by the events in Ukraine.
He added that the EU is expected to come out with a package of measures to support the economy, which could be a good model for Serbia as well, Politika writes.
