Blic Daily: Serbian Firms Move Billion Euros Off-Shore

Money (Free Image)

Companies doing business in Serbia moved a little over a billion euros to off-shore zones last year, the Feb. 12 issue of the Blic daily reported.

The article cited National Bank of Serbia records that the largest amounts had gone to Hong Kong (EUR806 million), Singapore (EUR170 million) and the British Virgin Islands (EUR24 million).

At the same time, transfers of millions of euros were made to Lebanon and Liechtenstein, and the list of countries whose banking systems cooperated with Serbian firms goes on to include Panama, the Marshall Islands, the Dominican Republic and the Seychelles.

The largest portion of transfers (26 percent) came from outfits in the metal industry. Transfers were further made by companies in the mining sector (13 percent), computer and equipment manufacturers (eight percent), and household appliance dealers (nine percent), the central bank confirmed for the business pages of Blic.

"The growth of payment operations with Hong Kong in the past five years is largely the result of direct investments from the country into Serbian companies in the manufacturing and mining sectors," the central bank said.