Speaking at the SteelOrbis 2020 Spring Conference & 82nd IREPAS Meeting held in Belgrade on March 1-3, Mihailo Vesović, director of the sector for strategic analysis, services and internationalization at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia, shared the latest figures for the Serbian economy and foreign trade with the participants at the event.
According the Mr. Vesović, economic activity in Serbia grew by 6.1 percent in the last quarter of 2019, the biggest annual growth in a single quarter, while the growth in 2020 is projected to be four percent, in line with IMF and World Bank scenarios. The construction, metal and electronics industries were the drivers for last year’s growth.
Commenting on the foreign trade structure of the eastern European country, the Serbian official said that it has no bigger partner than the EU, with its biggest trading partners in the EU being Germany, Italy and Romania. He added that Serbia recorded a significant increase in exports of steel products in 2016-18: however, the EU safeguard measure limited the country’s exports in 2019, leading to an increase in Serbia’s foreign trade deficit. Regarding exports, Mr. Vesović pointed out that local Serbian producers with their much smaller production capacities cannot compete with the large steel producers from Turkey, Ukraine and India.