USAID Serbia and Montenegro
Youth (Serbia): Junior Achievement in 90 schools in 2009. USAID supports efforts of the Ministry of Youth/Sports to better prepare youth for post-graduation work opportunities. | Agribusiness (Serbia): Serbian companies assisted made $16.7m in registered sales in 2008. Recent trade shows expected to bring over $17m in contracts. | Local Economic growth (Serbia): Municipalities in USAID’s Municipal Economic Growth Activity attracted over 800m Euro in investments and created over 11,000 jobs in two years by becoming more business friendly; 270 new businesses opened; 26 Local Economic Development offices set up to actively attract investments. | Commercial Courts (Serbia) have become more efficient and transparent with Case Management Systems in all 16 courts and the High Commercial Court. Case backlogs cut drastically. | Compete Project (Serbia): Helping to bring Serbian companies back into world market – leading directly to $20.5m in 2008 exports. Helping to introduce International Industry standards that allow companies to compete in the global marketplace. Attracted major film productions and millions in investments. | Support to companies (Serbia) in vulnerable areas increased their competitiveness. 2008 sales at trade/shows fairs for assisted companies up 42%. | Economic systems (Serbia): Helped introduce: VAT; private pensions; investment funds; sound insurance industry, bankruptcy and enforcement and modern payment systems. | Opportunity Bank (Serbia) loans created 5,000+ new jobs and ensured 40,000+ existing jobs were kept. Only lender for vulnerable people who have little access to credit. | Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) (Serbia): Civil Society activities have brought together 14 major companies and an array of NGOs to establish culture of CSR. | Preparedness Planning (Serbia): USAID works with all levels of government to improve disaster risk reduction, trained 675 responders from 50 Municipalities on disaster management. | Civil Society Grants (Serbia): USAID assisted 160 Civil Society organizations with $5.2 million in 2.5yrs to better represent the needs of ordinary people & become more influential partners with businesses and government in the democratic process. | Media (Serbia): USAID media assistance has contributed to more independent, professional and financially viable media outlets and media associations. The regulatory environment now better supports the development of e-media; 2,000+ media professionals trained. | Court Reform (Serbia): U.S. assistance helped increase independence and the professional skills of judges, magistrates and prosecutors; provided legal assistance to victims of war crimes and human rights abuses. | Local governments (Serbia): Through work with a wide geographic spread of municipalities, local governments are now more responsive: 30+ Citizen Assistance Centers, E-government in 80+ Municipalities. |
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    Serbia Economic Growth Activity (SEGA)

    Advises on the formulation and implementation of laws, policies and procedures relating to financial, fiscal and macroeconomic development.

    Project components include:

    • Improving capacity for macroeconomic policy development.
    • Strengthening the supervisory oversight and risk management of the financial sector to improve the availability of credit and investment opportunities.
    • Supporting reforms in tax policy and administration and fiscal decentralization.
    • Improving Government’s outreach/public information and education on key reform agendas.
    • Assisting capacity development of key governmental and non-governmental economic and financial institutions.

      Key results to date:

      • Assisted the Tax Administration to introduce VAT in Serbia. This is the main internal source of income for the Serbian Budget.
      • Introduced new, modern payment systems that are the backbone of trade and commerce.
      • Provided technical assistance to the National Bank (NBS) to introduce credit cards as a way of payment.
      • Provided the Training Program that allowed the country to have the first generation of actuaries certified in line with international standards to improve safety, soundness and stability of the insurance sector. Total of over 120 participants passed the joint NBS/USAID developed Actuarial Training Program.
      • Assisted in the introduction of private pension & investment funds to give Serbian citizens the chance to ensure their financial well-being.
      • Improved Serbia’s effectiveness in combating financial crime, illegal transactions and money laundering by re-engineering processes and improving IT systems of the Anti-Money Laundering Unit.
      • Helped create trustworthy and sound private insurance industry by working on establishment of the supervision function at the NBS, radical restructuring of the sector where the number of companies was cut in half and others were restructured, and by developing sound regulation and supervisory practices.
      • Helped the NBS develop and deploy a banking supervision program that has been successful in insulating the Serbian banking sector from turbulence in the operating environment for banks.

        USAID works with the National Bank of Serbia, the Ministry of Finance and its Serbia Tax Administration (STA), the Serbian Securities and Exchange Commission, and nongovernmental institutions such as consulting firms, economic research institutes, and universities.

        For more information, please visit http://www.bep.org.rs/