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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Start-up loans to encourage business growth

Belgrade, 20 April 2009

Director of the Serbian Business Registers Agency Zvonko Obradovic said that the number of registered enterprises and shops per head in Serbia is three times smaller than the EU average.

In a statement to Beta news agency, Obradovic said that 330,000 businesses are not enough and the state should further support the establishment of new businesses, particularly through start-up loans.

He stressed that start-up loans are extremely important for maintaining growth, adding that 1,507 new enterprises were established in 2007 and 2,200 in 2008 as a result of the programme for start-up loans.

He said that since the beginning of this year up until the middle of April, 912 enterprises and 10,696 shops closed and were eliminated from the Agency’s records and 3,386 new companies and 11,749 shops were opened during the same period.

He said that the number of newly founded businesses during the first three and a half months of this year was almost the same as in the same period last year, adding that the majority of the businesses that closed were related to the trade sector.

He said that businesses that closed included restaurants and bars, car dealerships, road freight companies, building companies as well as food and beverage stores.

He said that most of the new businesses were established in the vehicle maintenance and service, software and consulting and management sectors. He added that currently some 218,000 entrepreneurs and 107,000 companies are registered in Serbia.