engleski

IMPORTANCE OF MICROCREDIT SECTOR IN SERBIA AS A INCENTIVE TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES AND ENTREPRENEURS

The main objective of this paper was to demonstrate the importance of the implementation of legislative framework for the operation of microcredit organizations in accordance with the guidelines of the European Commission (EC) in the Republic of Serbia, with the purpose of establishment and development of small and medium entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs (SMEE). An outstanding importance and role of enabling the alternative sources of financing the small and medium enterprises and entrepreneurs was additionally highlighted with the fact that the year of 2016. has been declared the Year of SMEE in Serbia. During the research in working, the comparisons were made with the neighboring countries, such as Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Romania, where the legal framework is in line with the acquis of the European Union and a large number of start-up entrepreneurs are funded by microcredit organizations. The primary study on 120 surveyed entrepreneurs in Serbia proved that there is a need to develop an effective legislation and to implement the acquis of the European Union in legislation that would regulate the financial services in the Republic of Serbia, in accordance with the chapter 9 of negotiations between Serbia and the European Commission, all with the goal of the soonest possible enabling of the crediting through alternative sources for small and medium enterprises and entrepreneurs with the purpose of their start-up and development. In the Republic of Serbia, as well as throughout the EU, the SMEE play a crucial role, both in the overall development of the economy, as well as in poverty reduction and self-employment. Poor and insufficient access to sources of financing stands out as the main negative factor in the initiation and development of small and medium enterprises and entrepreneurs. Sixty percent of active SMEE state that they don’t use formal sources of crediting, due to the inability of meeting the requirements for loan approval. According to economic sectors, an extremely poor access to formal sources of crediting is in agriculture, livestock breeding, processing industry and construction, while in terms of ownership, the lower access to formal credit markets is noticed at women-owned enterprises. Although SMEE make 99.8% of the total number of business entities and employ almost 64% of the total working population in the Republic of Serbia, the share of SMEE loans in total loans in 2011 amounted to only 28.9%. This is supported by the fact that a large number of loan products on the formal credit market does not correspond to the needs of small and medium enterprises and entrepreneurs, which resulted in poor position in the Global Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum for 2014/2015. where the access to credits for SMEE in the Republic of Serbia is on 121st place out of 144 countries surveyed. As the small and medium enterprises and entrepreneurs represent the best way for creating new jobs, the enabling and facilitating the access to credits, through micro-credit organizations, is thus a "conditio sine qua non" for their development in the Republic of Serbia

entrepreneurship ; development ; micro credits

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