Serbia’s Top 100 by Revenue and Profit: Slow Growth Amid Political Uncertainty in 2025

In 2025, the Serbian economy experienced significant internal and external pressures, resulting in the lowest GDP growth rate since the 2020 pandemic. The ruling party blames the two-year long protest movement for declining foreign direct investments, while the student movement cites corruption and lack of rule of law as the main obstacles to economic development. What is possible to change after parliamentary elections on October 25?

By Ana Milosavljević

Serbia’s economy grew by 2.1% in 2025, underperforming the Western Balkans regional average of 2.6%, but exceeding the EU average of 1.5%. Dr. Dmitry Pozhidaev, member of the Scientific Society of Economists of Serbia and Consultant for the Capital Development Fund of the United Nations Organization, says four sectors were largely responsible for the slowdown: construction, manufacturing, trade, and professional, scientific and technical activities.

In 2025, construction moved from growth of 6.2% to a contraction of 6.3%; manufacturing growth fell from 4.7% to 1.1%; trade slowed from 6.0% to 0.2%; and professional, scientific and technical activities from 7.2% to 0.3%. Based on Pozhidaev’s calculations of data published by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, these sectors accounted for approximately 2.1 percentage points of lost growth, partly offset by improvements elsewhere.

According to the Serbian Business Registers Agency, the negative trend was due to “unfavorable developments in the energy sector.” At the end of 2025, the US implemented sanctions against Serbia’s partially state-owned oil company, NIS, due to the majority stake Russia’s Gazprom holds. The agreed-upon sale to Hungary’s MOL has still not been finalized, months after supposedly striking a deal. The sanctions negatively impacted fuel supplies and affordability, and as such the prices of goods and services across sectors.

Foreign direct investment fell from €5.23 billion in 2024 to €3.48 billion in 2025, representing a decline of one third. “For an economy heavily reliant on foreign capital to expand production and exports, this was significant,” Dr. Pozhidaev commented, who says there is not enough evidence presently to attribute the reduction to the protests.

In 2025, exports of goods and services comprised 54% of Serbia’s GDP, increasing 5.7% compared to 2024. Merchandise exports totaled €33.07 billion, an 8.4% increase from 2024. Imports represented 58% of GDP, and increased 7.8% since 2024.

In addition to foreign capital, the Serbian economy continues to heavily rely on state interventions. Minister of Finance Siniša Mali described in an October 2026 interview that total investment in fixed capital represented 25% of GDP, including a public component of 7%. In 2025, government capital expenditures slightly decreased by about 1% in real terms.

Dr. Pozhidaev points to positive trends so far in 2026 to illustrate how activity can recover without resolving structural weaknesses. “Public investment and household demand can support recovery despite external difficulties, while earlier foreign investments continue generating output” he says. The structural weakness in Serbia’s economy is its insufficiently developed domestic productive base, meaning that primarily lower value assembly production is conducted in Serbia as opposed to higher-value.

In 2025, household consumption accounted for a 60% share of GDP, a real increase of 3.3% compared to 2024. Inflation decreased to 3.8% in 2025, an improvement from 4.6% in 2024. In addition, a faltering labor market negatively impacted purchasing power.

However, Serbia’s labor market showed signs of weakening, even as average net wages rose by 11.5% in nominal terms and 7.4% after accounting for inflation. In December 2025, the median monthly net wage stood at approximately €774, considerably below the average of €1,057. According to the Statistical Office’s Labour Force Survey, the number of employed people declined by 28,000 compared with the previous year, while the unemployment rate stood at 8.7%.

The Economy Before and Since Vučić

On October 25, citizens of Serbia went to the polls in a highly contested election which challenged the 14-year rule of the Serbian Progressive Party. In an election video, former president Aleksandar Vučić stated “When something works well, you don’t change it just to try something different.”

Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw) recently published a report examining economic performance before and after Vučić came to power. Titled “Serbian economy under Vučić: Far from a miracle,” the researchers found that employment in Serbia has stagnated since 2019, wage growth was mostly absorbed by higher living costs, inequality increased and the scope of social protection decreased.

The analysis found that average economic growth of Serbia in the period 2012-2025 was 2.4% per year compared to 4.2% in the period 2001-2011. Inflow of foreign direct investments in the period 2012-2025 was 5.7% of GDP on average per year, but in the period 2001-2011 FDI averaged 6.1% of GDP or slightly more, according to official data.

Dr. Pozhidaev warns against viewing economic growth statistics as indicators of development. According to him, GDP growth can finance improvements to people’s lives and strengthen a society’s productive capacities, but doing so is not a given.

“Growth and development can diverge through both distribution and economic structure. GDP may rise while additional income accrues mainly to owners, foreign investors or politically connected businesses. If essential living costs increase, employment becomes less secure or public services deteriorate, conditions for the majority can worsen despite aggregate growth,” he says.

2025 Largest Companies Economic Performance

In 2025, industrial production grew by 0.9% compared with 3.2% in the previous year. The largest contribution to that growth was from Serbia’s mining sector. Indeed, the two most profitable companies in Serbia in 2025 were China’s Zijin mining subsidiaries. Although, the mining sector also experienced a slower growth rate in 2025 compared to 2024 (4.7% compared to 7.4% in 2024).

The two largest sectors in Serbia’s economy, manufacturing and wholesale and retail trade including motor vehicle sales and repairs, accounted for 53.6% of the revenue generated by the Top 100 companies. The largest operating profits were also achieved in manufacturing and wholesale and retail trade, at €2.32 billion and €2.20 billion, respectively.

Manufacturing comprises the largest share in Serbia’s GDP (12.2%) and experienced a growth rate of 1.1% in 2025, a decline compared to the 4.7% growth rate of 2024. This can be attributed to the reduced demand in European markets for Serbian exports, particularly automotive parts. As a result, automotive companies have laid off hundreds of workers while others have closed their factories altogether. The sector lost approximately 11,500 registered workers, or 2.3% of its workforce, in 2025.

Accounting for 9.9% of Serbia’s GDP, the wholesale and retail trade sector, including motor vehicle sales and repairs, experienced a slowdown in 2025. In 2025, the sector grew by only 0.2%, compared to 6% last year.

Due to reports of price gouging and unaffordability, in 2025 the Serbian government implemented price margin restrictions on the largest supermarket chains. In early 2026, Dutch grocery group Ahold Delhaize, which owns Serbia’s largest supermarket retailer, Delhaize, filed an international arbitration claim against the Republic of Serbia for this measure.

10 Biggest Companies in Serbia

Serbia’s top 10 companies by operating revenue generated €17.60 billion in 2025, equalling 20% of the country’s 2025 GDP. The top 100 largest companies generated nearly €50 billion in 2025, equivalent to approximately 55.5% of the country’s GDP. They also employed 218,111 people in 2025, down from 220,056 in 2024.

• EPS AD BEOGRAD

Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) is Serbia’s state-owned electric utility company, producing and supplying the entire country with electricity. In 2025, it had an operating revenue of €3.93 billion and a profit of €330.1 million, making it the third most profitable company in Serbia. In 2025, the Government of Serbia and the National Bank of Serbia agreed to restructure the company in accordance with International Monetary Fund recommendations to improve its financial stability. It has a workforce of 18,825 employees.

• NIS A.D. NOVI SAD

Serbia’s state-owned oil company, NIS, represented the most challenging aspect of Serbia’s economy in 2025. After the US sanctioned the company due to the financial stake in the company that Russia’s Gazprom had, the Serbian government struggled to find a solution. Eventually, after months of crisis and emergency measures, Russia agreed to sell its stake to Hungary’s MOL. However, the sale has still not been finalized even months later. Due to the geopolitical pressures, NIS did not appear at all on Serbia’s 100 top profitable companies in 2025. Instead, NIS recorded a net loss of approximately €104.4 million in 2025, compared with a net profit in 2024. It had 5,156 employees in 2025.

• SERBIA ZIJIN COPPER DOO

Chinese-owned mining company, Zijin Copper, engages in processing, metallurgy, copper metal sales, as well as mine engineering and construction. It ranked as the second most profitable company in Serbia, behind Zijin’s other subsidiary Serbia Zijin Mining. In 2025 it had an operating revenue of €1.94 billion, profit of €526.8 million, four copper mines across Serbia, and 5,854 employees in 2025.

• SERBIA ZIJIN MINING D.O.O.

Chinese-owned mining company headquartered in Bor is Serbia’s leading producer and exporter of copper concentrate. It was Serbia’s most profitable business in 2025, recording a profit of €1.14 billion with an operating revenue of €1.82 billion. In 2025, the company had 1,369 employees.

• TELEKOM SRBIJA A.D. BEOGRAD

Telekom Srbija is a state-owned telecommunications company with core markets in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. It provides fixed-line, mobile, television, and internet connection services to over 11 million subscribers and has 9,152 employees. It also owns Arena Channels Group, a prominent media company that owns and operates channels such as Euronews and other sports networks. It had an operating revenue of €1.67 billion and profit of €211.4 million.

• DELHAIZE SERBIA DOO BEOGRAD

Delhaize is Serbia’s largest supermarket chain in Serbia, with over 520 stores across Serbia. It is a subsidiary of the Dutch Ahold Delhaize retail and wholesale conglomerate. It is one of the largest employers, with approximately 12,000 employees. In 2025, it recorded €1.44 billion in revenue and €8.9 million in profit.

• JP SRBIJAGAS NOVI SAD

JP Srbija Gas Novi Sad is the state-owned natural gas provider and leading gas market operator in Serbia. It trades, supplies, transmits, stores, and distributes natural gas via pipeline networks across the country. In 2025, it generated revenue of €1.23 billion and profit of €83.5 million, ranking within the top 10 most profitable companies in 2025. It has 917 employees.

• TIGAR TYRES DOO

Tigar Tyres is a wholly owned subsidiary of the French Michelin Group and supplies tires to the automotive industry in the European Union, US, and beyond. It generated a revenue of €1.18 billion, profit of €45.2 million in 2025 and 3,417 employees. The tire sector in Serbia is highly concentrated, as opposed to other automotive sectors which have a large amout of medium and large producers. Tigar Tyres is the most dominant player.

• LIDL SRBIJA KD

Lidl Srbija is the second biggest supermarket chain in Serbia, with 80 stores across Serbia. Its parent company is Germany’s Schwarz Gruppe. It generated €1.08 billion in revenue in 2025 and €40.1 million in profit. It has 3,520 employees as of 2025.

• ELEKTRODISTRIBUCIJA SRBIJE D.O.O. BEOGRAD

Elektrodistribucija Srbije is a state-owned company which distributes electricity across Serbia. In 2025, it recorded €1.05 billion in revenue and recorded a €104.5 million loss. It has 8,243 employees.

Post-election outlook

The Student List won the Serbian elections with 52.9% of the vote, securing 141 seats in parliament and defeating the political camp of President Aleksandar Vučić, whose party has dominated Serbian politics for more than a decade. There will be no immediate transformation, says Dr. Pozhidaev. “Any government will inherit contracts, debt obligations, administrative constraints and an economic structure that changes slowly,” he tells Monitor.

Given the students’ focus on rooting out corruption, a new government could audit contracts and renegotiate terms, including for EXPO 2027, a global event for which the Serbian government has allocated two billion euros in order to construct the necessary infrastructure. In 2025, EXPO 2027 was the sixth most profitable company in Serbia in 2025.

The Student List also plans to recover illicitly acquired assets, resources which would be invested elsewhere. Dr. Pozhidaev warns that such a process contains various uncertainties, whereas “permanent improvements in services require dependable revenue and realistic expenditure plans.

Dr. Pozhidaev remains cautious, as the program for more transparency does not fundamentally alter Serbia’s economic model thus far. “The deeper question is whether Serbia remains attractive to investors and can absorb further investment productively. A strategy built around inexpensive labour and subsidies faces limits as labour availability tightens. Attracting more sophisticated activities requires skills, reliable energy, infrastructure, capable domestic suppliers and predictable institutions,” he concludes.

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*Ana Milosavljević is a Belgrade-based freelance journalist reporting on economic policy, labor issues, and regional politics in the Western Balkans

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