The 2026 edition of the SME Policy Index comes at a critical juncture for the Western Balkans and Türkiye. Over the past decade, governments in the region have made sustained efforts to strengthen SME policy frameworks and align them with European standards. Yet, the context in which these policies operate has fundamentally changed, shaped by successive global shocks, accelerating green and digital transitions and rising geopolitical uncertainty.
Beyond these immediate pressures, a deeper shift is underway. Uncertainty has become structural, while the systems traditionally used to manage it are under strain. In this context, the challenge is no longer primarily to design better SME policies, but to ensure that the existing frameworks deliver.
SMEs remain central to economic growth in Serbia, accounting for approximately 54% of value added and 66% of employment. Against this backdrop, the economy has made progress across several areas key to SME development since the previous assessment cycle:
Support for SME greening has expanded, with stronger implementation of policy measures and a broader range of supporting instruments. Greening is embedded across major strategic frameworks, including the Low-Carbon Development Strategy and the SME Development Strategy, and the adoption of the Roadmap for a Green Economy, built on input from 350 micro and small firms, has given policy a data-driven foundation. The range of supporting instruments has broadened, with SMEs able to access green grant schemes, certification support and emerging green financing initiatives. At the programme level, schemes such as the Support Programme for the Purchase of Equipment and the Development Chance Programme co-finance investments in energy-efficient equipment, complemented by donor-supported initiatives, reflect a gradual shift from strategic planning towards more active implementation of SME greening measures.
Increasingly digitalised public services have streamlined the operational environment for businesses across the firm lifecycle. Business registration is now fully digital and among the most streamlined in the region, reducing the time and steps required to start a business. Building on this, the ePapir programme has further cut red tape by simplifying, digitalising, or abolishing 762 administrative procedures, including 227 in 2024 alone, thereby lowering day-to-day compliance burdens for firms. The e-government portal eUprava brings these services together at a single access point for legal entities, while the 2025 Regulation on Regulatory Impact Assessment introduced a mandatory SME Test to keep future regulatory burden on SMEs in check.
Serbia has continued to strengthen support for women's entrepreneurship across the policy cycle. Progress has been driven by strong and sustained policy focus, spanning employment, SME and gender equality strategies, and bolstered by the expansion of targeted support programmes. Strengthening access to finance – the most binding constraint identified by women entrepreneurs – has been a particular focus, with dedicated grant, loan and credit-line programmes complementing training delivery by the Development Agency of Serbia and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. These efforts have contributed to measurable progress, with the share of women entrepreneurs rising from 29% in 2013 to 34% in 2023. Monitoring has also improved, as business founders have been required to indicate their gender at registration since 2022, enabling more accurate data on women-owned businesses.
However, despite these achievements, several challenges remain that constrain the ability of Serbia’s SMEs to drive growth and convergence:
Weak insolvency and second-chance frameworks constrain SME resilience and the efficient reallocation of resources. Long-pending amendments to the Bankruptcy Law have delayed efforts to simplify and expedite proceedings, while preventive tools remain limited, as plans to roll out the Chamber of Commerce and Industry's early warning system online have stalled amid funding constraints. Moreover, support for second chances is largely constrained, with no dedicated second-chance programme for SMEs in place and no clear legal distinction between fraudulent and honest bankruptcies. These gaps are reflected in the time needed to resolve insolvency, with liquidation proceedings taking an average of 57 months to conclude in 2024, compared with around 22 months in neighbouring Western Balkan economies.
Access to finance remains a constraint for SMEs, as the policies facilitating access to credit and the alternative channels available to them are both limited in scale. Serbia still lacks a scalable public credit guarantee scheme for SMEs, and SMEs account for a relatively modest share of bank lending, at 31% of total outstanding commercial bank loans in 2024, down from 36% in 2019. With bank credit constrained, alternative channels take on greater importance, yet these too receive limited policy support. Although the legal framework allows SMEs to issue shares and bonds on a dedicated SME growth market on the Belgrade Stock Exchange, no SME has yet been listed, and the first SME bond issuance took place only in 2025. Private equity and venture capital are similarly held back: the legal framework is relatively well developed, but the absence of active policy measures such as tax incentives, dedicated programmes and SME-focused training has limited their development.
The strategic foundation for SME digitalisation has yet to translate into broad-based firm-level transformation, constrained by a partially operationalised support framework. The core SME digitalisation measures under the SME Strategy 2023-2027 are narrowly defined, with operational details and delivery instruments regulated through separate programme documentation rather than an integrated implementation roadmap. While multiple institutions contribute to SME digital transformation - including the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications, the Chamber of Commerce and the Office for IT and eGovernment - a clearer delineation of roles for SME digital transformation would help maximise the complementarity of their efforts. Most available infrastructure, including Science and Technology Parks, the Innovation Fund and the S4AI Hub, primarily serves start-ups and innovation-active firms, with limited structured pathways for the broader SME base seeking first-stage digital investments.
Going forward, addressing these gaps will be critical if Serbia’s SMEs are to fulfil their role as drivers of growth and convergence in an increasingly competitive global economy.
