Serbia’s New Growth Agenda : Increasing Exports

Evidence from several countries reveals that nations that have open economies tend to enjoy higher income than those with closed economies (Lind and Ramondo 2018). Openness to hosting multinationalfirms can lead to firms in receiving countries acqu...

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Main Authors: Frias, Jaime, Shimbov, Bojan, Davies, Elwyn, Ek, Colin
Format: Report
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/496521585544006401/Serbia-s-New-Growth-Agenda-Country-Economic-Memorandum-Increasing-Exports
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33568
id okr-10986-33568
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-335682021-05-25T09:35:00Z Serbia’s New Growth Agenda : Increasing Exports Frias, Jaime Shimbov, Bojan Davies, Elwyn Ek, Colin EXPORT COMPETITIVENESS EXPORT DIVERSIFICATION TRADE PROMOTION TRADE FACILITATION FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT PROCESSING TRADE Evidence from several countries reveals that nations that have open economies tend to enjoy higher income than those with closed economies (Lind and Ramondo 2018). Openness to hosting multinationalfirms can lead to firms in receiving countries acquiring new technology and skills (Harrison and Rodriguez-Clare 2010), and to productivity-enhancing spillovers, particularly through vertical commercial relationships between foreign and domestic suppliers. Learning by exporting offers positive knowledge externalities, and it comprises myriad ways in which exports can stimulate growth in productivity, including development of exporter capabilities, such as marketing new products; upgrading product quality; and acquiring expertise in managing customer relationships by dealing with foreign buyers. The value from knowledge spillovers and the promise of job creation are often seen as positive externalities and are usually brought in to justify policy interventions in the form of tax incentives, grants, and other concessions (access to land sites at minimal or low cost). It is often thought that spillovers from foreign firms are driven by transfers of technology and by learning about markets by exporting. Learning from foreign buyers is supposed to be channeled directly to the exporters or passed through to local suppliers and competitors in domestic markets. There is some evidence that in Serbia, the international competitiveness of domestic exporters has been diminishing, and government programs to support links with markets receive meager financial allocations. Recent successes in exports of manufactures have revealed the great potential of Serbia, but these have been driven by only a few firms, many of them foreign-owned. This has lowered expectations of inclusive and widespread growth. There is also a growing sense that government efforts to promote exports and attract export-oriented investment in Serbia have instead been directed to attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) at the expense of export promotion, which has not been particularly effective. A looming question has become whether the current policy mix for promoting competitive Serbian exports needs realignment. 2020-04-09T20:52:13Z 2020-04-09T20:52:13Z 2020-03-26 Report http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/496521585544006401/Serbia-s-New-Growth-Agenda-Country-Economic-Memorandum-Increasing-Exports http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33568 English Country Economic Memorandum; CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Economic & Sector Work Economic & Sector Work :: Country Economic Memorandum Europe and Central Asia Serbia
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic EXPORT COMPETITIVENESS
EXPORT DIVERSIFICATION
TRADE PROMOTION
TRADE FACILITATION
FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT
PROCESSING TRADE
spellingShingle EXPORT COMPETITIVENESS
EXPORT DIVERSIFICATION
TRADE PROMOTION
TRADE FACILITATION
FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT
PROCESSING TRADE
Frias, Jaime
Shimbov, Bojan
Davies, Elwyn
Ek, Colin
Serbia’s New Growth Agenda : Increasing Exports
geographic_facet Europe and Central Asia
Serbia
relation Country Economic Memorandum;
description Evidence from several countries reveals that nations that have open economies tend to enjoy higher income than those with closed economies (Lind and Ramondo 2018). Openness to hosting multinationalfirms can lead to firms in receiving countries acquiring new technology and skills (Harrison and Rodriguez-Clare 2010), and to productivity-enhancing spillovers, particularly through vertical commercial relationships between foreign and domestic suppliers. Learning by exporting offers positive knowledge externalities, and it comprises myriad ways in which exports can stimulate growth in productivity, including development of exporter capabilities, such as marketing new products; upgrading product quality; and acquiring expertise in managing customer relationships by dealing with foreign buyers. The value from knowledge spillovers and the promise of job creation are often seen as positive externalities and are usually brought in to justify policy interventions in the form of tax incentives, grants, and other concessions (access to land sites at minimal or low cost). It is often thought that spillovers from foreign firms are driven by transfers of technology and by learning about markets by exporting. Learning from foreign buyers is supposed to be channeled directly to the exporters or passed through to local suppliers and competitors in domestic markets. There is some evidence that in Serbia, the international competitiveness of domestic exporters has been diminishing, and government programs to support links with markets receive meager financial allocations. Recent successes in exports of manufactures have revealed the great potential of Serbia, but these have been driven by only a few firms, many of them foreign-owned. This has lowered expectations of inclusive and widespread growth. There is also a growing sense that government efforts to promote exports and attract export-oriented investment in Serbia have instead been directed to attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) at the expense of export promotion, which has not been particularly effective. A looming question has become whether the current policy mix for promoting competitive Serbian exports needs realignment.
format Report
author Frias, Jaime
Shimbov, Bojan
Davies, Elwyn
Ek, Colin
author_facet Frias, Jaime
Shimbov, Bojan
Davies, Elwyn
Ek, Colin
author_sort Frias, Jaime
title Serbia’s New Growth Agenda : Increasing Exports
title_short Serbia’s New Growth Agenda : Increasing Exports
title_full Serbia’s New Growth Agenda : Increasing Exports
title_fullStr Serbia’s New Growth Agenda : Increasing Exports
title_full_unstemmed Serbia’s New Growth Agenda : Increasing Exports
title_sort serbia’s new growth agenda : increasing exports
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2020
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/496521585544006401/Serbia-s-New-Growth-Agenda-Country-Economic-Memorandum-Increasing-Exports
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/33568
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