Serbia achieved the top spot at the Greenfield FDI Performance Index[1] for 2019 – fDi Intelligence, a Financial Times data division, placed Serbia as a number one in its annual Greenfield FDI Performance Index study.
The Study, which looks at inbound greenfield investment in 2018 relative to the size of each country’s economy, assigned the score of 11.92 to Serbia. This means that Serbia attracts almost 12 times the amount of greenfield FDI that might be expected given the size of its economy.
According to the Study “automotive components, food and tobacco, textiles and real estate are Serbia’s leading FDI sectors, and combined they accounted for more than half (54%) of total inbound FDI projects in 2018.”
What brings Serbia to the top?
fDI Intelligence does not elaborate on what are the factors that lead to Serbia topping the chart. However, Serbian experts tend to agree that the generous system of incentives for attracting direct investments is most likely to be the main reason for the increase of foreign direct investments.
The most notable incentives include direct cash subsidies (primarily available to production sector), possibility to acquire publicly owned construction land free of charge and tax holiday.
According to the state treasury, Serbia will award up to RSD 15 billion (approx. EUR 130 million) through direct cash subsidies to large-scale investments in production sector, with a plan to gradually increase its amount in 2020 and 2021.
[1] The index uses a methodology devised by Unctad for overall FDI, and applies it to only greenfield FDI – excluding M&A, intracompany loans and other forms of crossborder investment.
The information in this document does not constitute legal advice on any particular matter and is provided for general informational purposes only.
