Top 200

``The Economic Policy'' brought a list of the 200 biggest companies in 1992 last week. The number is devoted to the biggest companies in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and the list was compiled thanks to the Department for financial transactions of FR Yugoslavia. The list was established on the basis of the total income of each company. However, even a layman can see that these millions and billions of dinars on last year's balance sheets do not make much sense. The editorial begins with the following statement, ``It's worse today than it was yesterday, but it's still better than it's going to be tomorrowthis could be the slogan describing the 200 biggest companies.''

However, instead of looking at income figures, one should take a look at the profits. The Serbian Oil Refinery NIS is the leading company in Yugoslavia, but it has shown no profits, only considerable losses. To avoid confusion, one should keep in mind that the data apply to 1992; sanctions were imposed during the second half of the year. Six out of the 10 biggest companies ended the year in the red. Apart from NIS, these are the Serbian ElectricPower Company, the Railway Transport Company ZTP, the Bor Mining Company, the Yugoslav Airlines JAT and the Sartid Ironworks in Smederevo.

Generally speaking, the biggest companies ended the year with losses since their expenditures exceeded their income. The same goes for the entire Yugoslav economy, but its results are not as bad as those of the 200 biggest companies. With regard to the nation's annual income the participation of the biggest companies stands at 37.1%, while their profits amount to only 18.1%. The list illustrates this: of the first ten companies six have made no profits, while of the first thirty fourteen have ended the year with losses. Going down the list, the number of companies which did not show any profit is smaller. However, the losses which the biggest companies made exceed the sum of all profits, which points to the efficiency of the system in power and its economic policy. Those companies which according to the officials have ``priority'' and are ``the carriers of development'' represent the biggest stumbling block for the national economy. Other criteria for the list are as follows: NIS, the biggest company as regards its total profits, showed greatest expenditures, CMarket, the chain of supermarkets with largest securities, recorded the biggest gross profit, while the Zastava car manufacturer from Kragujevac had a highest number of employees in 1992.

Four years ago, when the last ``normal'' list of the biggest companies in the then Yugoslavia was compiled, Zastava was the most successful company in Serbia and the fourth on the list of all Yugoslav companies. Zastava is now the 32nd company in the New Yugoslavia, and its expenditures exceed its income by five times. The company from Kragujevac began to stagger after the Serbian Government had made a decision to impose an economic blockade on Slovenia, and continued with a disintegration of the former Yugoslav economy. Sanctions were only a straw on the camel's back. Four years ago the arms factory, a part of the company at the time, was making profits, but this was insufficient to improve the final results of Zastava. These are two separate companies now, so that the Zastava arms factory has not only surpassed the car factory (ranking 24th on the list) but also made decent grossprofit. This only testifies to the expansion of arms production, which used to be primarily intended for sports and hunting, and calls for a thorough analysis.

Out of the 200 hundred biggest companies in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, 188 are located in Serbia and 12 in Montenegro. The biggest Montenegrin company is `Jugopetrol' from Kotor and occupies the 36th place on the Yugoslav list. Concerning Serbia, the list is as follows: 146 companies are located in Serbia (excluding its provinces), 41 in Vojvodina and one in Kosovo (the Kosovo ThermoElectric Power Plant, which showed losses like all electric power plants excluding the one in Montenegro). `Generalexport' recorded the highest profit in Serbia and is the 2nd on the list. Two pages which `Genex' used for its presentation in the issue on the 200 biggest companies speaks about its real standing: there is an address, telephone and fax numbers, decorated with three pictures, without a single word about this company which has been the biggest specialiying in foreign trade for decades. Four years ago `Genex' was the 7th ranking Yugoslav company, far ahead of its competitors. Four years ago the majority (88) of 220 companies in Yugoslavia were located in Serbia. Right now all of them are Serbian, except for 56% in Montenegro. One can only speculate about their current situation. Two pages which the biggest companies were allotted for their presentation in the Serbian and the English edition can also serve as an indicator: only 27 out of 200 companies have decided to provide a detailed description about their company (actually only 26 of them, if one takes into account how `Genex' did it). Such a small number of participants has not been recorded in 25 years of existence of ``The Economic Policy.'' A most frequently cited reason for this is 1,000 DM which a company was charged for four pages in the domestic and the foreign issue.

Bearing all this in mind, gloomy prognoses that this year's list will contain only those companies which are saved after the local Titanic has sunk are quite realistic. Those who survive will be the ones to see who's on the list.