Serbian industry is directly dependent on the European Union, which is best shown by the fact that it sells two thirds of its exports on EU markets, and almost 900,000 people work in companies that do business with the EU, said President of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce Marko Čadež to the TV programme Insider.
The number of staff in companies exporting to Russia is 163,000, while companies exporting to the EU employ 620,000 people, said Čadež, talking about economic aspects of current political developments related to the crisis in Ukraine.
Asked how he sees the pressure on Serbia to impose sanctions on Russia, Čadež said that it is politics that decides, that politicians see the consequences of both decisions, taking into account, among other things, the needs of industry and the economic facts.
“In an energy crisis sharpened by the outbreak of war in Ukraine, Serbia shares the fate of other countries dependent on energy imports. Our position is not easy, but unlike many western countries, our advantage, something good in an ocean of bad news, is that we have electricity from local production that does not rely on gas”, said Čadež.
When asked what is the acceptable price of electricity for industry, he said that he is sure that electricity prices will not return to pre-crisis levels and that estimates for the next seven to ten years put it at around 90 euros per megawatt hour.
Photo: pks.rs