February 22 (SeeNews) - The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has said it is launching a project to digitise services to reduce the administrative burden on businesses and improve the business climate in Serbia.
Over the next three years, the project will help simplify regulations for 1,250 different types of licenses and permits and create a one-stop shop online to process and issue e-permits for 100 procedures, saving around $8 million annually for businesses in Serbia, the IFC said in a statement on Wednesday.
The electronic administration is key to solving the three main problems affecting the Serbian public administration, namely efficiency, transparency, and corruption, the country's prime minister Ana Brnabic, said in the statement. "The digitisation of the country is essential to help us reach these goals and reduce the bureaucratic burdens still slowing business in Serbia."
New job opportunities created by the private sector are even more crucial in Serbia today as the government has embarked on a series of reforms of state-owned enterprises. The project builds on the current government’s efforts to improve the local business environment and spur the development of the private sector, the IFC said.
"Serbia has been steadily improving its business environment over the past decade," IFC vice president for Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Georgina Baker, said. "To drive growth and help create new jobs, this commitment needs to continue, both in terms of improving legislation and increasing the operational efficiency of government agencies, where digitization will greatly help."
IFC is launching the project in cooperation with UK Aid and the British embassy in Serbia.