Uporedna analiza stepena investiranja u Republici Srbiji i zemljama Evropske unije
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE DEGREE OF INVESTMENT IN THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA AND THE COUNTRIES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

Author(s): Milan Šojić
Subject(s): Politics, Economy, National Economy, Supranational / Global Economy, EU-Approach / EU-Accession / EU-Development, Socio-Economic Research
Published by: Институт друштвених наука
Keywords: gross investment; comparative analysis; indebtedness; Serbia; EU
Summary/Abstract: This paper presents a comparative analysis of investment levels in the Republic of Serbia and the EU member states. Albeit on the rise, gross fixed investment in Serbia still hasn’t reached the level necessary from the aspect of economic and social development and economy’s potential. According to preliminary official statistics, in 2018 gross fixed investment amounted to RSD 1,016.5 billion or EUR 8.6 billion. At the same time, the investment rate, measured as the ratio of the total investment to GDP, equaled 20.1%, while in 2019 it is estimated at around 21%. In our estimate, in the coming period, the investment rate should be 25% of GDP per year as a minimum. Eurostat’s data indicate that the investment rate in the EU equaled 19.6% in 2013 and in 2018 – 21% of the EU-28 GDP. In the EU-28 the share of public investment is around 3% of GDP per year, the share of corporate invest- ment 12–13% of GDP and the share of household investment 5–6% of GDP. The level of internal and external debt of the corporate and public sector is most certainly a constraining factor on new investment. Based on the National Bank of Serbia’s data, the repayment of external debt interest and principal reached 10–13% of GDP in recent years, i.e. EUR 4.9 billion in 2018 and around EUR 6 billion in 2019, of which interest payments accounted for around EUR 1 billion and EUR 1.1 billion, respectively. Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Serbia has also been on the rise recently. According to the Ministry of Finance, FDI (net value) came at EUR 3.2 billion in 2018 and EUR 3.6 billion in 2019. The privatization of sociallyand stateowned enterprises in the period after 2000 is judged not to have produced the expected results. Privatization receipts in the total amount of no more than around EUR 4 billion up to 2013 were channeled mainly in consumption, rather than in investment, which slowed the development and recovery of the Serbian economy.

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