Information on bilateral cooperation between Serbia and Switzerland
Economic relations between Serbia and Switzerland can be assessed as traditionally good and diverse because they include all aspects of economic cooperation, however, the level of trade could be much higher.
Switzerland is on the list of the largest investors in the Serbian economy and is on the 6th place of foreign investors in Serbia. In 2019, the total exchange amounted to 433.2 million euros, which is an increase of 23.8% compared to 2018. Serbia’s exports amounted to 142.4 million euros, with an increase of 8.7%, and imports to 290.8 million euros – an increase of 32.9%. We recorded a deficit of 148.4 million euros, ie the coverage of imports by exports was at the level of 49.4%.
“Switzerland is Serbia’s 4th partner in terms of total exchange and in terms of our exports of services”
In the first 9 months of 2020, trade amounted to 335.2 million euros (an increase of 8.6% compared to the same period in 2019). We exported goods worth 116.5 million euros (an increase of 13.8%), and imported goods worth 218.7 million euros (an increase of 6.1%). We recorded a deficit of 102.2 million euros, ie the coverage of imports by exports is 53.3%.
This year, 87.1% of our exports are industrial products, and 12.9% are agri-food, while as much as 97.8% of our imports are industrial products, and only 2.2% are agricultural.
In addition, in trade in services, Switzerland is Serbia’s 4th partner in terms of total exchange and in terms of our exports of services. In this exchange, we record a positive balance and we export services almost twice as much as we import them. In the period of January-August 2020, we recorded a revenue of 264.3 million euros and expenditure of 144.4 million euros, with a surplus of 119.9 million euros.
When it comes to tourist traffic in the first 9 months of 2020, 5730 tourists from Switzerland and Liechtenstein visited Serbia (a decrease of 87.3% compared to the same period last year), who realized 14,208 overnight stays (a decrease of 74.3%) ). In 2019, 32,592 tourists from Switzerland and Liechtenstein visited Serbia (an increase of 17.5% compared to 2018) and realized 72,199 overnight stays (+ 16%).
Promising areas of cooperation (especially for strategic partnership, production cooperation and investment in the Serbian economy) are: mechanical, pharmaceutical, wood and furniture industry (which Switzerland promotes through its SIPPO program to help export partner countries), food industry, tourism and the IT sector.