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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Doing everything to make Serbia leader in entrepreneurship

Belgrade, 17 January 2020

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said today that the state has done much to encourage people to start their own businesses, saying that the government of Serbia is ready to provide support and assistance to entrepreneurs at any time.

Brnabic reminded at a start-up entrepreneurship conference "Start Legally" that Serbia is a leader in attracting foreign direct investment, and now it should be in entrepreneurship.

She stated that the state wants to support the youth who graduated from school or those who are finding it difficult to get a job in order to create a job for themselves, as well as to see how, in addition to the one-year tax exemption, to help these companies.

According to Brnabic, the tax relief measure will be extended from 1 March to innovation, in which new firms will be exempt from tax for three years.

The Prime Minister also expressed satisfaction with the automation of the flat-rate taxation procedure, which now allows entrepreneurs to calculate their taxes.

Brnabic also announced that a portal will be opened where interested parties will be able to see what is being sought and what the state has to offer when it comes to opening a business.

NALED Board member Stanka Pejanovic pointed out that in the last five years the number of companies and entrepreneurial activities has increased to about 53,000, or about 16%, with 390,767 companies in Serbia last year.

According to Brnabic, the share of start-ups in the total number of economic entities reaches 12%.

Pejanovic singled out the high tax burden, bureaucracy and gray economy as the key problems that burden businessmen, and assessed the tax exemption of beginners in business and the automation of the flat-rate taxation procedure as positive measures.

She recalled that the competition for the the most enterprising local government "Champions of Entrepreneurship 2020", in which local self-governments will be ranked by the number of start-ups and the number of users of tax relief measures for beginners.

Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Serbia, Thomas Schib assessed that this initiative is excellent, and at the same time said that the pillar of the German economy is made up of small and medium-sized enterprises.

NALED data show that in 2019, 46,317 business entities were established in Serbia, of which 80% are entrepreneurs and 20% are companies.