The EBRD has supported the Serbian government in developing a new state ownership policy

According to the latest EBRD transition report, Serbia ranks 15th among the 38 countries in which the EBRD operates. However, although Serbia has better results than most other economies in the Western Balkans, it still lags behind the new EU member states in Central and Southeast Europe, the director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for the Western Balkans, Zsuzsanna Hargitai, told eKapija.
Hargitai says that there is room for progress, and that the focus of the EBRD in 2021 will be on encouraging green investments, increasing the skills of young people, and thus employment, as well as providing support to women entrepreneurs.
“This year, we plan to launch a new program dedicated to young entrepreneurs with the support of the Swedish government. With a combination of EBRD loans and donor-funded financial guarantees, we will improve access to finance and business advice for young entrepreneurs. Most importantly, we would like to emphasize more the transition from coal to energy production and consumption on Serbia’s agenda. It is time to start long-term planning of ‘coal mining’ in the next 15 to 20 years,” Hargitai pointed out for eKapija.
When it comes to the state-owned enterprise sector, it is, as Hargitai points out – relatively large and usually has a worse performance than in other European countries or when compared to the private sector.
New system of state ownership
“The EBRD has supported the Serbian government in developing a new state ownership policy, which should contribute to better corporate governance in state-owned enterprises – but this is not the only problem in the state-owned enterprise sector. In line with the IMF program and with EBRD advice, the government agreed to adopt, in February-March 2021, a State Ownership Policy and Action Plan to provide a strategic vision of state ownership, including ownership objectives, financial and public policy objectives, reporting and monitoring guidelines and procedural guidelines for the election and work of the board of directors,” she said.
He adds that a more efficient sector of state-owned companies is an important topic and is in the interest of the government.
“Greater efficiency can be achieved either by changing ownership or improving corporate governance. The EBRD is ready to support the Serbian government in any way that it decides to make public companies more efficient. As previously mentioned, we are currently helping the government to develop a state ownership policy in line with the best standards,” Zsuzsanna Hargitai said.
The EBRD has been supporting the private sector over the past year. These are investments for competitiveness and economic recovery, in the amount of 679 million euros. The EBRD Regional Director states that the strategy of this institution for 2021 is “Building back better economies”.
“This means that we will not only continue to support economies in which we are investing in recovery from the crisis caused by Covid 19, but we will help them emerge from the crisis better, more resilient, greener, more inclusive and better equipped for 21st century technologies. In 2020, the largest part of EBRD investments was intended for the private sector, small and medium enterprises, but also large companies. This trend will continue in 2021 with the financing of domestic and foreign investors and the financing of local small and medium enterprises,” she pointed out and added that the launch of a new program dedicated to young entrepreneurs is planned with the support of the Swedish government.
As for public infrastructure, the EBRD says it is working on several priorities, including a project with district heating companies, a regional solid waste management program and further investment in the agricultural irrigation sector.
“With our partners, KfW Group, we will increase funding for energy efficiency in public and residential buildings and plan advisory support to the Ministry of Mining and Energy to establish a national energy efficiency fund. As the focus on green traffic grows, the modernization of the railway will also be high on our investment and priority agenda for 2021,” Zsuzsanna Hargitai pointed out, Novosti reports.