Serbia’s SMEs accounted for 99.4% of businesses in 2024, while roughly two thirds of exports remained concentrated in larger foreign-owned companies, according to the European Commission’s Serbia 2026 Report, dated 4 November 2026. The contrast highlights the gap between SMEs’ role in domestic business activity and the concentration of export performance.
SMEs employed 64.4% of Serbia’s non-financial workforce and generated 58.9% of total turnover in 2024. They make up most Serbian businesses and jobs, but their share of exports remains smaller than that of larger foreign-owned companies.
The assessment links domestic value creation to whether Serbian firms can move beyond basic subcontracting into engineering, specialised components, software, maintenance, logistics and other higher-value services. It identifies supplier deepening as the next industrial-policy objective for Serbia.
Serbia has programmes for SME digitalisation, export promotion and access to finance, but their budget allocations are described as modest and often adjusted on an ad hoc basis. Foreign factories can remain export anchors, while Serbian suppliers could benefit from technical certifications, financing and long-term contracts around those plants. A stronger domestic supplier base could reduce dependence on continued large foreign direct investment inflows and help retain more of the export value chain inside the country.
