Serbia_Development of Financial System in Rural Areas in Serbia

Rural Areas in Serbia face tremendous challenges in regard of structural change. The last census in the Republic of Serbia (updated in 2014 by the national Statistical Office) showed that only 40% of the Serbian population remains to live in rural areas. Nevertheless rural economy still contributes more than 20% to the Gross Domestic Production (GDP) and carried the overall economy through the last recessions.

KfW addresses this target group of micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSME) and entrepreneurs with its Program for Development of Financial Systems in Rural Areas. The objective of this Program is to improve access to credit and to support competitiveness for MSME and entrepreneurs in Rural Areas, so that the income options for the rural population are improved.

The Project aims to contribute to:

i) Optimize marketing and loan processing of the banks;

ii) Design and conduct trainings for MSME and entrepreneurs / farm successors in Rural Areas;

iii) Assistance to Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management (MOAFWM) and Securities Commission (SEC) in creating regulations and conditions for Commodity Exchange establishment and;

iv) Support MOAFWM in the implementation of the Project.

It is intended to involve MOAFWM into the Project, to create a platform for cooperation, which shall enable an efficient and effective implementation of the approaches under the German Serbian Initiative for Growth & Employment and along the national development strategies.