According to the latest data from the Public Debt Administration, published in July this year, the main creditors are the buyers of Serbia’s eurobonds. They hold 10.3 billion euros of Serbia’s debt.
Next in line are the holders of long-term government securities issued in dinars, with 7.1 billion euros, according to the Public Debt Administration report. In third place among creditors are commercial banks, whose loans to the state amounted to 4.3 billion euros.
Just five years earlier, in July 2020, these loans amounted to less than 200 million euros. More precisely, the state owed the banks 198 million euros, and they did not even appear on the list of the top 10 creditors.
Forbes Serbia analysed the changes on the creditors’ list since 2020, when the pandemic began, followed by the latest global inflationary wave that made borrowing more expensive and narrowed the sources of debt financing. Loans became significantly less favourable, and the list of creditors took on a very different form compared to the years when money was cheap.
These changed circumstances, however, did not lead to lower borrowing by Serbia in recent years. On the contrary, the wave of investment has increased public debt from 26.9 billion euros in 2020 to the current 38.5 billion. The list of creditors, however, has changed substantially.
More than a billion borrowed from Poštanska
In just over a year, the bank Poštanska štedionica alone has lent the state more than a billion euros. Forbes Serbia reported as early as December last year that this bank had become the state’s largest creditor. Furthermore, other commercial banks on the domestic market are increasingly becoming the addresses visited by decision-makers in Nemanjina 11. Loans for major infrastructure projects, including motorways, EXPO, and the National Stadium, have also been granted by private commercial banks operating in Serbia.
Despite warnings from public finance auditors that borrowing from commercial banks is generally more expensive than from certain international creditors, it is clear that the authorities find it easier and simpler to borrow from commercial banks – or perhaps that these banks are the most willing to lend money to the state.
According to data from the Public Debt Administration, commercial bank loans amounted to just under 200 million euros in 2020, but today they are nearly 4.3 billion euros, an increase of more than 2,000 per cent.
For comparison, in 2021 they stood at 285 million euros, but banks were still not among the top 10 creditors. A year later they amounted to 712 million, and by 2023 had risen to over two billion. In just the past two years, their volume has doubled.
The most unfavourable borrowing
In its analysis of public investments and their impact on the overall economy, the Fiscal Council once warned that this is the most unfavourable form of borrowing—in other words, the most expensive.
They calculated that between November 2020 and June 2023, the state signed five loans for two road sections: the Danube Highway and the Ruma–Šabac–Loznica road.
“The total value of these loans exceeds 600 million euros, with typical interest rates between eight and nine per cent. These rates are therefore significantly higher than those of other loans for road infrastructure construction,” the analysis stated.
The Fiscal Council also noted that these loans were mostly approved in dinars, with yields on dinar-denominated government bonds currently two to 2.5 times higher than those on euro-denominated bonds of the same maturity.
“Furthermore, these sources of financing were largely of an emergency nature. These loans were not the primary choice but were resorted to after financing plans from other sources failed, while works on those sections were already underway. On top of that, they were contracted during a period of extremely unfavourable market conditions, which caused high interest margins. Finally, given that inflation is projected at around three per cent in the medium term, these dinar loans, with interest rates of eight to nine per cent, cannot be considered favourable,” the Council added.
This type of borrowing has continued, and in August last year the state borrowed an additional 330 million euros from commercial banks for these and other infrastructure projects.
Chinese bank and foreign governments among major creditors
Serbia’s debt to the Chinese Export-Import Bank has also risen significantly over the past six years. According to the Public Debt Administration, in July 2019 it amounted to just over one billion euros, whereas six years later it has reached 2.87 billion euros.
Foreign governments are also among Serbia’s major creditors. However, their exposure has remained practically unchanged over the past five years. Both in 2020 and this year, loans from foreign governments amounted to 2.8 billion euros. The highest level was recorded in July 2023, when they reached 3.33 billion euros.
Bondholders as the largest creditors
Serbia finances its debt primarily through the issuance of euro and dinar-denominated bonds. Public debt data shows that the largest creditors at present are the buyers of eurobonds, who hold 10.3 billion euros of Serbia’s debt.
This represents more than double the figure compared to 2020, when bondholders held 4.9 billion euros. The analysis shows that over the past five years, their holdings have increased by between 1.5 and 2 billion euros annually on average.
Currently in second place are the holders of long-term government securities in dinars, who hold 7.1 billion euros of Serbia’s public debt. Five years earlier, this figure was 7.6 billion.
Other creditors
The list of creditors also includes international financial institutions such as the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the EBRD, the EIB, and the German Development Bank. However, their exposure is much smaller compared to the leading creditors of Serbia.
Serbia’s debt to the International Monetary Fund currently amounts to 2.3 billion euros. Just five years ago, it was less than half a billion.
Serbia also owes money to the Paris Club. In July this year, the debt stood at 299 million euros, down from 900 million five years ago.
(Biznis i Finansije, 02.10.2025)
https://bif.rs/2025/10/u-cijim-rukama-je-srpski-javni-dug/