Over 400 million euro has been paid out in subsidies mainly to foreign companies over 10 years (2006-2016), said the professor of the Faculty of Economics, Milorad Filipovic.
“For the most part, more than 80% has been allocated to foreign investors,” said Filipovic at the forum organized by Nova Ekonomija and the Balkan Democracy Fund, titled “Subsidies, economic development and investment growth”.
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Of the approximately 300 terminated agreements, the largest number was those concluded with domestic investors who did not comply with their contractual obligations. Filipovic added that the systematisation of subsidies was introduced on the basis of where and in what technology they will be used, which could also lead to erroneous conclusions:
“The production of cables for the automotive industry, which is a job for people with elementary education, is classified by the new methodology as “medium-high technology,” said Filipovic. For this reason, according to official statistics, it seems that over 33% of exports are made of medium-high technology products, while in reality, they are car parts, mainly cables.
Speaking of how statistics can distort reality, Filipovic cited the fall in unemployment as an example.
“The question we all ask is whether employment has really increased so much; this has not happened. Unemployment has fallen dramatically, but for other reasons… Demographic data and brain drain are also to blame. Also, if you do not register with the National Employment Service, you are removed from the lists of unemployed and are not registered as unemployed,” he concluded.
(Biznis i Finansije, 24.10.2019)
https://bif.rs/2019/10/osamdeset-odsto-svih-subvencija-otislo-stranim-investitorima/
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