Controversies of foreign direct investments: The case of Serbia

Foreign direct investments (FDI) represent one of the flows of international movement of capital that can affect positively and negatively the macroeconomic factors of development of the country of origin, as well as the host country. The Republic of Serbia has been attracting significant foreign direct investments in recent years, with its promotional legislation, natural and human resources, and strategic and market position, which is also visible in the reports and evaluations of the most eminent international organizations. In this regard, the objective of this paper is, in addition to a theoretical approach to the types and carriers of FDI, the advantages and disadvantages of the impact of FDI on the economic and social development of the country receiving investments, to investigate the views of foreign investors themselves on their motives for investing in Serbia. In this respect, for the purpose of elaborating the hypothesis about the diversity of influence and investment motives of foreign investors, an empirical study was carried out on a sample of 53 FDI companies from the territory of the entire Serbia in 2022. The results showed that the primary motives for FDI in Serbia are: The possibility of exporting to other markets, political relations between the investor's country and the country receiving the investment, and subsidies and incentives for employment. The results of the research in this paper can be useful to decision-makers on the improvement of the legal and business framework for attracting direct investments to Serbia, as well as the educational, technological and innovative infrastructure in motivating FDI for investments in high technology sectors so that their impact on the macroeconomic development of the country would have a greater added value.