Creative Industries Serbia
Global Development Serbia at Red Yellow Blue (RYB)
Creative industries
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Creative Industries Council and the Platform “Serbia Creates”
Creative industries are a significant sector in the Serbian economy, with a share between 3.4% and 7.1% of GDP (depending on whether it is viewed in a narrower or broader sense) and grow faster than the rest of the economy. This sector comprises of over 30,000 registered enterprises, employing more than 115,000 workers, of which almost 70% are between 25 and 44 years old, half have graduated from faculty, and a large number are women. The sector of creative industries includes publishing, print media, graphic industry, IT and software development, advertising, music and film industry, design, radio and television, advertising, fashion, old crafts.
> srbija.gov.rs/creative-industries.php
Serbia Creates
Serbia Creates is a new way of positioning Serbia locally and internationally in ways that affirm the country’s contemporary characteristics of creativity, innovation, and originality. Serbia Creates frames authenticity, ingenuity, excellence, trust, and openness as core elements of the Serbian character. It profiles Serbia as a great place to visit, invest, study or do business, and promotes Serbian people as creative, innovative, reliable and resilient partners.
> serbiacreates.rs
Serbia positions itself on the world map of creative industries
By Snezana Bjelotomic
The creative industry sector in Serbia has a 5% share of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), with a clear upward trend, almost levelling with tourism (6%), agriculture (6%) and construction (4%) share, shows a report compiled by the Faculty of Economics of Belgrade on the effects of creative industries on the national economy.
The growth of the number of companies in the creative industries sector by 25% (from 56,000 to 70,700 companies registered from 2016 to 2018), which are engaged 80 activities based on talent, ideas, knowledge and creativity, and 120,000 new jobs created in this industry are indicators of the development and importance of this sector, the report shows.
The contribution of the creative industries sector is perhaps best illustrated by the total exports of this sector, which have increased by 46.7% in the last two years alone, while in comparison, the total exports of Serbia have increased by 30%.
> serbianmonitor.com/en/serbia-positions-itself-on-the-world-map-of-creative-industries/
Economy
upper middle-income Balkan economy; current EU accession candidate; hit by COVID-19; pursuing green growth development; manageable public debt; new anticorruption efforts; falling unemployment; historic Russian relations; energy import-dependent
Serbia has a transitional economy largely dominated by market forces, but the state sector remains significant in certain areas. The economy relies on manufacturing and exports, driven largely by foreign investment. MILOSEVIC-era mismanagement of the economy, an extended period of international economic sanctions, civil war, and the damage to Yugoslavia’s infrastructure and industry during the NATO airstrikes in 1999 left the economy worse off than it was in 1990. In 2015, Serbia’s GDP was 27.5% below where it was in 1989.
After former Federal Yugoslav President MILOSEVIC was ousted in September 2000, the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) coalition government implemented stabilization measures and embarked on a market reform program. Serbia renewed its membership in the IMF in December 2000 and rejoined the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Serbia has made progress in trade liberalization and enterprise restructuring and privatization, but many large enterprises – including the power utilities, telecommunications company, natural gas company, and others – remain state-owned. Serbia has made some progress towards EU membership, gaining candidate status in March 2012. In January 2014, Serbia’s EU accession talks officially opened and, as of December 2017, Serbia had opened 12 negotiating chapters including one on foreign trade. Serbia’s negotiations with the WTO are advanced, with the country’s complete ban on the trade and cultivation of agricultural biotechnology products representing the primary remaining obstacle to accession. Serbia maintains a three-year Stand-by Arrangement with the IMF worth approximately $1.3 billion that is scheduled to end in February 2018. The government has shown progress implementing economic reforms, such as fiscal consolidation, privatization, and reducing public spending.
Unemployment in Serbia, while relatively low (16% in 2017) compared with its Balkan neighbors, remains significantly above the European average. Serbia is slowly implementing structural economic reforms needed to ensure the country’s long-term prosperity. Serbia reduced its budget deficit to 1.7% of GDP and its public debt to 71% of GDP in 2017. Public debt had more than doubled between 2008 and 2015. Serbia’s concerns about inflation and exchange-rate stability preclude the use of expansionary monetary policy.
Major economic challenges ahead include: stagnant household incomes; the need for private sector job creation; structural reforms of state-owned companies; strategic public sector reforms; and the need for new foreign direct investment. Other serious longer-term challenges include an inefficient judicial system, high levels of corruption, and an aging population. Factors favorable to Serbia’s economic growth include the economic reforms it is undergoing as part of its EU accession process and IMF agreement, its strategic location, a relatively inexpensive and skilled labor force, and free trade agreements with the EU, Russia, Turkey, and countries that are members of the Central European Free Trade Agreement.
The newly constructed Ada Bridge, completed in 2012, in front of other Belgrade bridges.