Structural improvement of the Serbian merchandise exports 2000–2013: A comparative analysis
Structural improvement of the Serbian merchandise exports 2000–2013: A comparative analysis

Summary/Abstract: In the period 2000-2013, there was a tendency of improvement of the quality of the Serbian exports, which can be traced through an increase in the share of goods of higher levels of processing. The value of indicators of the similarity of the Serbian export and import structures to those of developed countries grew only mildly. In addition, Serbia has stagnant and relatively high levels of export concentration ratio. The quality level of the Serbian exports lags greatly behind the countries in the EU and to a lesser extent to the Central European economies in transition, which indicates that the unfavourable structure of exports has not been significantly improved. The quality of the Serbian exports in 2012 is on average similar to the quality of exports of most of the Balkan countries, which, in turn, also lags behind advanced countries in transition. For export success, it is of great importance to have the transfer of modern technology and investment, especially FDI, in competitive sectors which would “spread” export offer. A targeted industrial policy and sector- and firm-level strategies are necessary to give momentum to a shift towards technology-intensive activities, which are associated with higher spillover effects.

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