Manufacturing, trade boost Serbian economy in 2016

The Serbian economy in 2016 saw accelerated growth buoyed by an increase in investments and export, higher profits and fresh hires especially in manufacturing and trade industry, it was reported Friday.

According to an annual report of the Serbian Business Registers Agency, the "increase of overall macroeconomic situation, supported by measures of fiscal consolidation and structural reforms,is also a reflection of more dynamic investment and credit activity, as well as significant increase of export by 11.5 percent compared to the year before."

"The revival of Serbian economy that started in 2015 continued with increased intensity in 2016 which is visible in the results of companies in the overall level," the report reads.

Gross domestic product grew 2.7 percent, while industrial production grew 4.7 percent in 2016.

The biggest growth was seen in manufacturing, that employed 319,150 people in 2016 (13,662 more than in 2015), and achieved total profits of 91.1 billion RSD (790 million U.S. dollars), following a negative result in 2015.

Another sector that marked significant growth is trade, where the number of employees increased by 8,653 to 204,908 employees.

Public and state enterprises, that ended their long streak of negative results in 2015, continued a positive trend in 2016 by increasing their profit by 61 percent and employing 5,554 people more than in 2015, to the total of 120,000 employees. Endit