Serbia on top list of favorite investment destinations of German companies - 91% of companies would invest again in our country

As many as 91 percent of German companies operating in our country would invest again in Serbia, says a poll conducted by the German Business Association (AHK) in Serbia among its members.

- Serbia is on the top list of favorite investment destinations of German businessmen on the territory of Central and East Europe, standing shoulder to shoulder with Poland and Czech Republic - said Executive Director of AHK Serbia Michael Schmidt, presenting the results of the poll that was conducted during February.

On this list, Serbia is even ranked higher than Hungary, since every third German businessman regrets investing in that country.

According to Mr. Schmidt, the readiness of German companies to invest and hire new people exist in spite of the economic crisis. At the same time, German investors expect bigger business turnovers and higher profits and export revenues.

For example, about 35% of companies plan to hire new workers, while 41% want to keep their number unchanged. Also, 45% of companies expect higher profits in 2012, whereas 39% of the polled expect no changes.

When it comes to investments, about 41% of companies boosted them in 2011, while 36% intend to do that in 2012 as well as create new jobs.

- Based on this poll, we can draw a conclusion that further investments and the establishment of new business relationships between the two countries largely depend on further improvement of business conditions, primarily through the fight against organized crime and corruption, whereas public procurements must be more transparent and more efficiently conducted - said Schmidt.

(Michael Schmidt)

As far as forecasts for their operations in 2012 are concerned, nearly every second company (45%) expects to achieve better business results this year, whereas 43% believe that the business situation will remain the same.

Deputy Ambassador of Germany to Serbia Hans-Ulrich Sudbeck recalled that 300 physical and 360 juristic persons from Germany were operating in Serbia, adding that German companies employed more than 20,000 people in Serbia.

He stressed that direct investments from that country had reached the amount of about EUR 1.5 billion, about EUR 63 million of which had been allocated in 2011.

- These results would be even more satisfying if the framework conditions were better. Among the factors affecting an investor's decision to come to Serbia are legal safety, apolitical regulatory authorities, fight against corruption, respect of payment deadlines - Sudbeck ennumerated.

In this poll conducted among 76 German companies operating in Serbia, human resources and labor market, that is, manpower qualification, academic education, productivity and availability of competent work force in Serbia are evaluated as positive.