Serbian Minister for Diaspora Srdjan Sreckovic said today that foreign remittances and inflow from Serbian immigrants increased by over 15% in 2009 and that they totalled $5.5 billion, according to World Bank estimates.

Sreckovic said that this is more than 14% of the country’s total GDP and more than half of Serbia’s entire exports. In addition, financial support to Serbia from the Diaspora was bigger even than the support from the International Monetary Fund and other financial institutions.

The Minister said that this financial support contributed to the relative stability of the foreign exchange rate, since these foreign currencies mostly went to final use and thus their offer on the market increased substantially, which maintained the rate of the dinar.

Sreckovic said that the greatest inflow of foreign remittances came from Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the United States, Canada, Australia and Sweden.

He explained that the foreign currency inflow may be even higher because much of the money enters the country through informal channels to avoid large banking commissions typically ranging from 0.15% to 0.4%.

The Minister pointed out that this data highlights the great financial potential of our Diaspora.

Sreckovic said that since 2000 the Diaspora had invested more than $550 million in small and medium-sized enterprises, which now employ about 22,000 people.

It is clear that a more active economic policy towards the Diaspora and offering specific investment projects in the future can give great impetus to the economic development of Serbia, concluded Sreckovic.