Revitalization of credit cooperatives in Serbia

Abstract

Savings and credit cooperatives are one of the earliest type of cooperatives, present since the time of the first organizations of this type in the world. Even today, they are an inevitable segment of the cooperative sector in almost all countries with the developed cooperative movement, except in Serbia. The paper presents the emergence and development of savings and credit cooperatives in Serbia, with a special emphasis on the last two decades and the reasons for the complete elimination of these specific types of non-banking financial organizations. The paper analyzes the problems in the functioning of savings and credit cooperatives and the factors that led to their neglect, exclusion from the cooperative sector and complete disappearance. In this respect, the changes in the legal framework during the transition period have been described in more detail, having resulted in the abolition of all forms of microfinance organizations, including savings and credit departments that operated within other types of cooperatives, and credit cooperatives. Finally, the paper highlights the need for the existence of such organisations, suggesting the models for their re-establishment, identifying the obstacles and proposing the measures on how to overcome them.

Jedan od pojavnih oblika zadruga, prisutan od vremena nastanka prvih organizacija ovog tipa u svetu, jesu štedno-kreditne zadruge. One i danas čine nezaobilazan segment zadružnog sektora gotovo svih zemalja sa razvijenim zadrugarstvom, osim u Srbiji. U radu je prikazan nastanak i razvoj štedno-kreditnih zadruga u Srbiji, sa posebnim akcentom na poslednje dve decenije i razloge potpunog eliminisanja ovih specifičnih vrsta nebankarskih finansijskih organizacija. Analizirani su problemi u funkcionisanju štedno-kreditnih zadruga, kao i faktori koje su doveli do njihovog zanemarivanja, isključivanja iz zadružnog sektora i potpunog nestanka. U tom smislu, detaljnije su opisane promene u zakonskom okviru tokom tranzicionog perioda, koje su rezultirale ukidanjem svih oblika mikrofinansijskih organizacija, uključujući i štedno-kreditne službe koje su funkcionisale u okviru drugih vrsta zadruga, kao i štedno-kreditnih zadruga. Konačno, istaknuta je potreba postojanja i predloženi modeli za ponovno uspostavljanje ovih organizacija, identifikovane osnovne prepreke i predložene mere za njihovo prevazilaženje.