This information comes from the assessment conducted in country for the Serbia report, which was published in April 1999.
Although potentially poised to outdistance its neighbors at the end of the 1980s, Serbia has fallen far behind. The banking system is in significant disarray, with very little lending or other standard banking practices taking place. Use of gray market cash payments and other survival techniques has become the norm in the commercial sector.
There is a popular perception that many or most banks are functionally bankrupt, which is also true for many of the state-owned enterprises. The new government has made many ambitious promises regarding improved conditions, but despite the commencement of numerous reforms, the government has not yet been able to deliver economic change that the average person can feel.
The upside of this very negative situation is that all sectors of society are open to and want assistance in moving Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) forward again. At the federal and republic levels, there are plans for extensive programs of legal, commercial, and judicial reform. Unofficial estimates suggest that 85 percent of the economic laws are slated for revision or replacement in the next year or two. This legislative activity is highly decentralized, with numerous ministries and departments preparing or planning legislative revision without any effective coordination. At the same time, numerous international donors and international financial institutions are preparing separate evaluations of the situation to offer assistance.
