EBRD sees "instability and taxes" as main challenges

EBRD sees "instability and taxes" as main challenges

BELGRADE -- Political instability, the tax system and access to financing represent the biggest challenges to doing business in Serbia.

This is according to a survey of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) presented on Thursday, and quoted by the Beta news agency.

Large companies in Serbia are also concerned with the availability of electricity and with unfair competition, brought on by the so-called gray economy, while firms from the service sector complain about corruption, it was said.

"Young companies in Serbia cited the tax system and difficult access to financing as the biggest challenges in operation," the Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS) for 2013 and 2014, done the EBRD and the World Bank, has shown.

Participating in the survey were top managers of more than 15,500 companies in 29 countries where the EBRD is operating, the statement reads, and the EBRD added that the survey in Serbia was performed from January to August 2013.

The main complaint of managers in the entire region regarding business conditions was unfair competition from companies which operate in the zone of gray economy, or evade taxes by reporting lower revenue, fewer employees or lower salaries.

The EBRD stated that improvements had been registered in court and bureaucratic procedures and in the availability of trained labor, and that some progress had been registered in the suppression of corruption.