Montenegro has been dependent on imports of goods in almost all areas for years, but the latest Monstat data shows that the negative trend has culminated as we have the lowest import-export coverage in the last 15 years.
Interlocutors of Television Vijesti indicate that we have to import some things, such as cars and machinery, but that the potential lies in food with which we can compete on the market, but that the authorities are not doing enough to encourage the production and sale of our, for example, prosciutto and cheese.
Montenegro is a country whose economy is largely based on imports, and has never done well with exports.
True, this is an old problem, which has seemingly become more pronounced over the past year.
In 2024, Montenegro recorded the lowest import-export coverage in the last 15 years, according to Monstat data for last year.
"We imported three and a half billion euros more than we exported, we have the lowest import-export coverage in the last 15 years, only 15 percent. This shows that very little or almost nothing is being done to improve the competitiveness of the Montenegrin economy," said Boris Mugoša, a Social Democrats (SD) MP.
Television Vijesti was unable to find out from the Ministry of Economic Development whether, when, and what they will finally do to overcome this negative trend, because they did not answer the questions.
When it comes to existing exports, Montenegro still exports electricity the most, although that is also declining, and we import almost everything, even things for which we have the potential to produce and be competitive on the market.
"The fact that we import more food and some foodstuffs than we export from Montenegro. We have about two million euros in daily food and foodstuffs imports, which comes to about 700 million annually, and we export about 600 million in total from Montenegro annually," said Mugoša.
"The level of coverage of imports by food exports is even lower than this 15,1 percent, it is around ten percent. The most imported products are oil and oil derivatives, then what grew strongly in the previous year is the import of motor vehicles for passenger and goods transport, which increased by some 40 million compared to the previous year. Both groups of products contribute over 300 million to total imports," said Miljan Šestović from the Chamber of Commerce of Montenegro (PKCG).
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Montenegro, however, points out that our producers also sell food on their doorsteps, and that if this were included in official statistics, the coverage of imports by exports would still be higher.
Regardless, the situation in this area has been calling for urgent action for years.
"Competition should be strengthened, the business environment improved. The most important thing is subsidies, incentives and reliefs, which must be improved. Economic patriotism, or the purchase of domestic products, is very important. If we identify where we have competitive or comparative advantages for production and these areas are adequately regulated and certain subsidies are given to encourage production and make it easier for businessmen to enter that production, I believe that there would be results and that we would succeed in substituting a part of this import in this way," said Šestović.
"We need to link agriculture with the hospitality sector, that is, with hotel and tourism capacities and retail chains, we need to promote domestic products much more and intensify campaigns to encourage the use of domestic products," said Mugoša.
And while we may not be a country that can compete with large countries in terms of exports, we could start by reducing our dependence on imports.
For example, according to the latest data from the Ministry of Tourism, there are more than 450 hotels in Montenegro, the same number of restaurants, and four large retail chains - enough space so that if we decide to increase food production, we have somewhere to market that food.
See more:
Download the app and follow the news
FOLLOW US ON
