Author: Tatyana Gracheva

Minimum wage in Serbia will rise by 9.2% as of 1 Jan 2027

Serbian government has announced the decision to increase the minimum monthly net wage by 9.2% to 70,470 dinars ($703/ 600 euro) as of January 1.

As the government said in a press release on Thursday, the new amount of the minimum wage will be valid through December 2027.

According to finance minister Sinisa Mali, the government will also increase the non-taxable portion of minimum wages by 9.2%, to 37,369 dinars. She said it in a press release earlier this week, after a meeting of the Social and Economic Council. It brought together representatives of the government, employers and trade unions.

Following an extraordinary 9.4% hike in October 2025, the government increased the minimum monthly net wage by 10.1% to 64,554 dinars effective January 1 this year.

According to the statistical office, there were about 2.36 million employed persons in Serbia out of a population of around 6.55 million in the second quarter of 2026.

As Mali said earlier this month, fewer than 100,000 workers in Serbia get the minimum wage. A typical update of the minimum wage takes place once a year.

Meanwhile, the most recent data available from the trade ministry report the cost of minimum consumer basket in Serbia equal to 57,188 dinars in May.

Officially, Serbia’s annual consumer price inflation decreased to 1.9% in July from 2.7% in June.

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The number of Business Registrations with founders from Nigeria, Sierra Leone rises sharply in Kazakhstan

In July founders from Nigeria and Sierra Leone registered a sharply increased number of companies in Kazakhstan. According to the Data Hub analytical Telegram channel, Nigerian companies demonstrated a 68 % increase. Meanwhile, the number of Sierra Leonean companies rose by 45%. The reason is expansion of Kazakhstan’s economic engagement with African countries. Main areas of cooperation are trade, logistics, agriculture, mining, investment and digital technologies. Also, a Strategy for Cooperation between Kazakhstan African States and the African Union for 2025-2030 is being developed.
The number of Nigerian companies increased by 19% (from 359 on July 1 to 427 on Aug. 1).
Nigeria ranks 21st among all countries represented in the Kazakhstan’s registry. It has the largest number of registered companies in Kazakhstan among African countries. They classify all Nigerian-founded companies as small businesses, with 56% accounted for Education. However, the “provision of other services” category increased in July with 61 new companies. In 2023 there was an earlier increase. After that, the number of Nigerian companies declined in 2024 and 2025.
The number of Sierra Leonean companies increased in 2.5 times: from 30 on July 1 to 75 on Aug (45 new registrations more than at the beginning of July).
The “provision of other services” category is the main driver of the increase (from zero to 44 companies). Then followed Education with 20 new organizations during the month.

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For first time since February, Ukraine’s labor shortage shows a slight decrease

Nowadays, the top obstacle to doing business in Ukraine is labor shortages. Nevertheless, a July survey demonstrates a 5 percentage points decrease of the share of companies citing this problem compared with June. The Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting (IER) conducted it among 472 industrial enterprises.
For the first time since February 2026, the share of companies reporting a labor shortage decreased to 66%, compared with 71% in June. Mainly microbusinesses drove the decline: 34% of respondents in that segment cited staffing as their main obstacle, compared with 49% in June.
By contrast, midsize businesses showed a slightly worsened picture: 74% of respondents cited labor shortages as their top problem in July, down from 73% in June.
The reason of such results may be a break in the negative labor-market trend, or adaptation of businesses to difficult wartime conditions. They had to make more flexible schedules, train workers without relevant qualifications, and take similar measures.

Geographically, more than 80% of surveyed businesses facing a labor shortage were situated in Chernivtsi, Lviv, Cherkasy, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, and Zhytomyr oblasts.

According to Oksana Kuziakiv, executive director of the IER, 73% of businesses answered positively when asked directly about feeling a labor shortage.

She specified that the problem is felt most by midsize (85%) and large (88%) enterprises. Chemical manufacturing (84%), construction-materials production (79%), and metallurgy and metalworking (78%) are the most concerned among industries. The situation is the best in microbusinesses (34%) and the printing industry (55%).

As 79.4% of businesses said, labor conscription significantly affects staffing levels. Second most acute problem is restrictions on draft deferrals for workers, according to 57.8% of respondents. The third obstacle is workers leaving the country (52.3%).

Also, the second-biggest overall obstacle to doing business is rising prices for raw materials, supplies and goods remained. The share of companies citing it rose to 57% from 50% in June. The IER said that it is the highest level in three years, since August 2023.

The third major difficulty is safety. 44% of business representatives named it their main problem, compared with 41% in June. It means that, for six months in a row, safety concerns have ranked among the main three difficulties.

Traditionally, workplace safety is a more acute problem for large enterprises (54%). Meanwhile, only 28% of microbusinesses consider it as their main obstacle.

Overall, approximately 70% of Ukrainian businesses reported labor shortages in June 2026.

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