Страни капитал у електрификацији Београда 1918–1941. Случај електричне централе „снага и светлост“
Electrification of Belgrade and Foreign Capital. The Case of the “Power and Light” Belgrade Electric Plant

Summary/Abstract: Building of electric power plants and electric network in Belgrade was financed by foreign capital from the end of the 19th century until 1941. In the early phase of electrification of Belgrade, it was the Belgian joint-stock company that was given a concession for the exploitation of the Belgrade electric network. After the WWI, the Belgrade Municipality took over the management of the electric network, together with the network of trams. Generally, the electric power production and consumption was very low in the country at the time. However, the city infrastructure had to be rebuilt, but the shortage of capital in the country and in Europe at large in the interwar period have rendered this task very difficult. The State Mortgage Bank was able to raise a loan in Switzerland as early as in 1923, which was followed by several consecutive loans in that country (in 1924 and 1927). Thus, it was able to finance the rebuilding and modernizing of the infrastructure in the cities and local communities. The internal loans of the Belgrade City Council were raised mainly from the State Mortgage Bank. In the interwar period, the only two external loans raised were from the Chase Security Bank in New York, and from the Swiss Bank Corporation. In order to pay their creditors from New York, the Belgrade municipal authorities were compelled to sell the concession for the building of the new electric plant and the exploitation of the electric network. Due to the previous loans raised in Switzerland by the major creditor of the City of Belgrade, namely the State Mortgage Bank, the concession was sold to the Swiss Bank Corporation. A joint-stock company “Power and Light” was formed with the seat in Basel and a branch in Belgrade. The electric power plant “Power and Light” was built in 1932. Although many stipulations of this contract were not advantageous for the Belgrade Municipality (in fact, the contract was amended many times during the 1930s), yet it helped improve and modernize the Belgrade electric network, and eventually contributed to the increase of electric power consumption.

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