Economy of Serbia

Economy Of Serbia

Serbia's economy is based mostly on various services (63.8% of GDP), industry (23.5% of GDP), and agriculture (12.7% of GDP). In the late 1980s, at the beginning of the process of economic transition from a planned economy to a market economy, Serbia's economy had a favorable position, but it was gravely impacted by economic sanctions from 1992–1995, as well as excessive damage to infrastructure and industry during the 1999 NATO bombing.

After the ousting of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević in October 2000, the country went through an economic liberalization process, and experienced fast economic growth. GDP per capital (nominal) went from $1,160 in 2000 to $6,539 in 2012. Furthermore, it has been made a candidate for the European Union in March 2012.The European Union is Serbia's most important trading partner. Estimated GDP (nominal) of Serbia for 2012 is $48.56 billion, which is $6,539 per capita. Estimated GDP (PPP) of Serbia for 2012 is Intl. $90.01 billion, which is Intl. $12,121 per capita. In 2011 the economy grew at 3.7% (Q1 2011) 2.5% (Q2 2011) 0.5% (Q3 2011) 0.8% (Q4 2011),resulting in nearly 2% GDP growth for 2011. At present, main economic problems are high unemployment rate (23.7%, November 2011) and a large trade deficit ($7.2 billion, 2009).

In recent years, Serbia has seen an increasingly swift foreign direct investment trend, including metal processing industry US Steel, building material industry Lafarge, food and beverages industry Carlsberg, Coca Cola, Nestle, textile industry Golden Lady, Pompea, leather industry Progetti Company, Falc East, ICT Industry Microsoft and Siemens. By countries, most cash investments in 2005-2009 period came from Austria ($2.68bn), Greece ($1.62bn), Norway ($1.55bn), Germany ($1.30bn), and Italy ($0.95bn), while major investor countries also include Slovenia, Netherlands, Russia and France. The actual amount of investments from countries such as the United States and Israel are significantly higher than the official figure due to their companies investing primarily through European affiliates.