Serbia needs more family businesses, says president

Economic growth in Serbia depends on the creation of “hundreds of thousands” of family businesses, the country’s president, Boris Tadic, said over the weekend.

According to Belgrade-based broadcaster B92, Tadic wants Serbians to establish more family businesses in a bid to tackle the country’s unemployment problem and increase its GDP.

“Hundreds of thousands of such companies is the future of this country,” he said during a visit to family-controlled winemaker Selecta in the town of Gudurica on 11 March.

“Some countries have managed to defend themselves from the crisis only thanks to having such enterprises,” he added.

According to B92, Tadic also said the government needs to create a development bank to support small and medium-sized enterprises.

This is not the first time Tadic has emphasised the importance of family businesses.

Local news agency Beta reported on 5 March that Tadic said family-controlled companies were already playing a role in reducing the country’s high unemployment rate – estimated at about 24%.

"Thousands of such companies are solving Serbia's most difficult problem - unemployment," he said during a visit to the Art Ival chocolate factory, a family business in Belgrade.