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Economic and Financial Implications of Structural Reforms in the Economy of the Republic of Serbia

Received: 2 July 2021     Accepted: 14 September 2021     Published: 12 October 2021
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Abstract

Economic and financial performance of the economy in the boom period 2015-2019. are significantly improved. The average economic growth in Serbia of 3.5% was higher than the average growth in the countries of the region. The key contribution to economic growth was made by investments, and to a lesser extent by the growth of personal consumption. The implemented structural reforms have had a positive impact on basic macroeconomic aggregates and productivity growth. The effects of the implemented fiscal consolidation in the economy of the Republic of Serbia have contributed to the continuous, from year to year, improvement of the macroeconomic and economic balance of the economy, although it should be noted that in 2019 there were signals of slowing down the trend. The fiscal deficit has been balanced since 2017, but the current account deficit remains acute. The trend of balanced public finances and reduction of public and external debt was disrupted in 2020 due to the pandemic caused by COVID-19. Due to the huge transition gap and peripheral economic status of the entire SEE area, despite the global situation, the implemented structural reforms did not proceed at the desired pace, especially in the segment of solving the problems of large state losers and economic and financial restructuring of public enterprises at all levels. Although the entrepreneurial sector has improved its performance, a number of institutional problems affecting the business environment remain. The structural analysis of the economy showed a continuation of the trend of strengthening the GVA of the service sector, repositioning of key sectors, as well as the trend of strengthening the influence of foreign private companies, which showed better business performance than domestic private companies. Structural reform activities in the coming period should primarily be directed towards creating the most stimulating environment for the development of domestic entrepreneurship and the growth of capital investments.

Published in International Journal of Business and Economics Research (Volume 10, Issue 5)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijber.20211005.11
Page(s) 162-170
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Economic Growth in SEE Countries, Competitiveness and Structural Reforms, Sectoral and Property Changes

References
[1] Agnello, L., Castro, V., Jalles, J. T. & Sousa, R. M. (2015). What Determines the Likelihood of Structural Reforms. European Journal of Political Economy, 37, 129-145. doi: 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2014.10.007.
[2] European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. (2020). Transition report 2019-2020.
[3] European Commission-General Directorate for Economic and Financial Affairs. (2020). European Economic Forecast Spring 2020, Summer 2020 (Interim). Institutional Paper 132. doi: 10.2765/828014.
[4] Foster–Mcgregor, N. & Verspagen, B. (2016). The Role of Structural Change in the Economic Development of Asian Economies. Asian Development Review, 33 (2), 74-93. doi: 10.1162/ADEV_a_00073.
[5] Guerrieri, V., Lorenzoni, G., Straub, L., & Werning, I. (2020). Macroeconomic Implications of COVID- 19: Can Negative Supply Shocks Cause Demand Shortages? NBER Working Paper Series, No 26918. National Bureau of Economic Research.
[6] IMF. (2015). Structural Reforms and Macroeconomic Performance - Initial Considerations for the Fund. doi: PP4995.
[7] IMF. (2020). External Sector Report: Global Imbalances and the COVID-19 Crisis. Washington, DC.
[8] Jakopin, E., Cokorilo, N., Nikolic, S., Miloševic, S., Trajkovic, M., Djuric, S. (2018). Start-up in Serbia 2017 - trends and structural analysis. Belgrade. Ministry of economy.
[9] Jakopin, E., & Cokorilo, N. (2019). Business analysis of public and state enterprises in Serbia 2015-2017. Trends, special edition. RSO. Belgrade.
[10] Megginson, W. and Fotak, V. (2020). Government Equity Investments in Coronavirus Bailouts: Why, How, When? Government Equity Investments in Coronavirus Bailouts: Why, How, When? by William L. Megginson, Veljko Fotak: SSRN.
[11] Miles, D., and Scott, А. (2020). Will Inflation Make a Comeback after the Crisis Ends? VoxEU.org, CEPR Policy Portal. https://voxeu.org/article/willinflation-make-comeback-after-crisis-ends
[12] Ragoussis, A. (2020). How Beneficial Are Foreign Acquisitions of Firms in Developing Countries? In Global Investment Competitiveness Report 2019/2020. World Bank. doi: 10.1596/978-1-4648-1536-2.
[13] Smith-Bingham, R., Wittenberg, A. and Kaniewski, D. (2020). Building national resilience: Aligning mindsets, capabilities and investments”. Marsh & McLennan Advantage.
[14] World Economic Forum (WEF). (2020). The Global Competitiveness Report 2019.
[15] World Bank. (2020a). COVID-19 Crisis through a Migration Lens. Migration and Development. Brief 32, Washington, DC.
[16] World Bank. (2020b). Doing Business Report 2020. Washington, DC.
[17] WTO. (2020). World Trade Report 2020: Innovation and industrial policies in the digital age. Geneva.
Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Edvard Jakopin, Aleksandar Gracanac, Jugoslav Anicic. (2021). Economic and Financial Implications of Structural Reforms in the Economy of the Republic of Serbia. International Journal of Business and Economics Research, 10(5), 162-170. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijber.20211005.11

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    ACS Style

    Edvard Jakopin; Aleksandar Gracanac; Jugoslav Anicic. Economic and Financial Implications of Structural Reforms in the Economy of the Republic of Serbia. Int. J. Bus. Econ. Res. 2021, 10(5), 162-170. doi: 10.11648/j.ijber.20211005.11

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    AMA Style

    Edvard Jakopin, Aleksandar Gracanac, Jugoslav Anicic. Economic and Financial Implications of Structural Reforms in the Economy of the Republic of Serbia. Int J Bus Econ Res. 2021;10(5):162-170. doi: 10.11648/j.ijber.20211005.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijber.20211005.11,
      author = {Edvard Jakopin and Aleksandar Gracanac and Jugoslav Anicic},
      title = {Economic and Financial Implications of Structural Reforms in the Economy of the Republic of Serbia},
      journal = {International Journal of Business and Economics Research},
      volume = {10},
      number = {5},
      pages = {162-170},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijber.20211005.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijber.20211005.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijber.20211005.11},
      abstract = {Economic and financial performance of the economy in the boom period 2015-2019. are significantly improved. The average economic growth in Serbia of 3.5% was higher than the average growth in the countries of the region. The key contribution to economic growth was made by investments, and to a lesser extent by the growth of personal consumption. The implemented structural reforms have had a positive impact on basic macroeconomic aggregates and productivity growth. The effects of the implemented fiscal consolidation in the economy of the Republic of Serbia have contributed to the continuous, from year to year, improvement of the macroeconomic and economic balance of the economy, although it should be noted that in 2019 there were signals of slowing down the trend. The fiscal deficit has been balanced since 2017, but the current account deficit remains acute. The trend of balanced public finances and reduction of public and external debt was disrupted in 2020 due to the pandemic caused by COVID-19. Due to the huge transition gap and peripheral economic status of the entire SEE area, despite the global situation, the implemented structural reforms did not proceed at the desired pace, especially in the segment of solving the problems of large state losers and economic and financial restructuring of public enterprises at all levels. Although the entrepreneurial sector has improved its performance, a number of institutional problems affecting the business environment remain. The structural analysis of the economy showed a continuation of the trend of strengthening the GVA of the service sector, repositioning of key sectors, as well as the trend of strengthening the influence of foreign private companies, which showed better business performance than domestic private companies. Structural reform activities in the coming period should primarily be directed towards creating the most stimulating environment for the development of domestic entrepreneurship and the growth of capital investments.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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    AU  - Edvard Jakopin
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    AB  - Economic and financial performance of the economy in the boom period 2015-2019. are significantly improved. The average economic growth in Serbia of 3.5% was higher than the average growth in the countries of the region. The key contribution to economic growth was made by investments, and to a lesser extent by the growth of personal consumption. The implemented structural reforms have had a positive impact on basic macroeconomic aggregates and productivity growth. The effects of the implemented fiscal consolidation in the economy of the Republic of Serbia have contributed to the continuous, from year to year, improvement of the macroeconomic and economic balance of the economy, although it should be noted that in 2019 there were signals of slowing down the trend. The fiscal deficit has been balanced since 2017, but the current account deficit remains acute. The trend of balanced public finances and reduction of public and external debt was disrupted in 2020 due to the pandemic caused by COVID-19. Due to the huge transition gap and peripheral economic status of the entire SEE area, despite the global situation, the implemented structural reforms did not proceed at the desired pace, especially in the segment of solving the problems of large state losers and economic and financial restructuring of public enterprises at all levels. Although the entrepreneurial sector has improved its performance, a number of institutional problems affecting the business environment remain. The structural analysis of the economy showed a continuation of the trend of strengthening the GVA of the service sector, repositioning of key sectors, as well as the trend of strengthening the influence of foreign private companies, which showed better business performance than domestic private companies. Structural reform activities in the coming period should primarily be directed towards creating the most stimulating environment for the development of domestic entrepreneurship and the growth of capital investments.
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Author Information
  • Faculty of Economics and Finance, Union - Nikola Tesla University, Belgrade, Republic of Serbia

  • Faculty of Entrepreneurial Business and Real Estate Management, Union - Nikola Tesla University, Belgrade, Republic of Serbia

  • Faculty of Economics and Finance, Union - Nikola Tesla University, Belgrade, Republic of Serbia

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