NALED: Crisis in Ukraine Exposes Serbia’s Dependence on Energy Imports

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Serbia’s economy depends heavily on energy imports, and it has one of the most energy-intensive economies in Europe, and the country spends enormous amounts of energy to produce a single GDP unit, the National Alliance for Local Economic Development (NALED) said on May 29.

Energy efficiency in Serbia is four times lower than the EU average, which is why the businesses that participated in NALED’s survey were unanimous that the war in Ukraine would have negative effects on the economy.

Serbia’s energy balance for 2020 shows that Serbia imported three-quarters of the crude oil that it needed, covering 25 percent with domestic production. Of the total oil imports, nearly two-fifths came from Iraq, and about a third came from Russia and Kazakhstan, the Serbian Statistics Office reported.

Serbia imports 81 percent of its gas and 18 percent of its oil and oil derivatives from Russia. As the crisis in Ukraine pushes energy prices and prices in general higher in the production sectors that use energy, business owners expect the energy and transportation sectors to suffer the biggest impact, followed by agriculture, the food industry, construction and trade.