Core area “Sustainable economic development, training and employment” Support for growth and employment

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Shopping street in Belgrade

Private sector and financial sector development

Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) play a key role in job creation. Germany therefore provides special support to Serbian MSMEs in areas such as information and communication technology, metalworking, mechanical engineering, and sustainable farming. They are given access to reduced-interest loans and public support programmes and receive assistance with a view to the introduction of modern information technologies.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and with a view to mitigating its economic impact, support has also been given to MSMEs as they quickly adopted digital systems for their business processes and models and switched to online channels. This support was provided based on close cooperation with the Center for Digital Transformation of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia, which had already been established earlier with support from Serbian-German development cooperation.

Complementing these efforts, advice is being provided to the Ministry of Economy with regard to policies and programmes to foster SME development and with regard to implementing the newly adopted national industrial policy, which focuses, among other things, on digital technology and on support for a green economy. These activities are intended, not least, to facilitate a green recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic. Another focus is on economic and social opportunities for young people in rural regions in order to reduce their migration to big cities or foreign countries.

In 2019, the German and Serbian governments launched a broad-based support programme (Start-up Facility) for people who want to start a business and for businesses that were started just recently. In order to implement the programme, which provides credit guarantees in order to reduce the lending risk for local commercial banks, the Serbian Entrepreneurship Foundation was set up together with the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PKS). The Foundation began its operations in 2021. It was possible to mobilise 11.2 million euros from the BMZ's special COVID-19 programme to provide swift and needs-based support to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) through improved access to loans. This enabled them to bridge liquidity constraints caused by the pandemic, and to protect jobs.