"The magnitude of corruption in Serbia is very highÉ In more than 50% of their encounters with public servants, entrepreneurs deal regularly with corruption and know in advance the amount of the bribe they will have to pay," explained Dr. Boris Begovic at a roundtable discussion sponsored by CIPE on June 7, 2001.
Dr. Begovic is Chief Economic Advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister of the Federal Government of Yugoslavia and Vice President of the Center for Liberal Democratic Studies (CLDS) in Belgrade, Serbia.
In his presentation to the roundtable, Dr. Begovic shared the results of a survey conducted by CLDS. Over 1,700 people were interviewed to assess public opinion on corruption, and over 300 entrepreneurs were interviewed to determine the extent and types of corruption present.
One-third of people interviewed in the public opinion survey accept corruption as a way of life in Serbia. This concerns Dr. Begovic. "I am not saying that corruption will be destroyed by a strong moral attitude of the peopleÑof course not," he says, "but I think that it is a prerequisite people understand what is going on in order for things to change."
Results of the survey of entrepreneurs revealed particularly alarming statistics about the magnitude and extent of corruption. In dealing with the civil servants, corruption is a regular occurrence and the transaction costs are very high. One question revealed that in 7% of the cases, entrepreneurs spend as much as 25% of their working hours dealing with corruption. "In some cases the bribery costs are so high, private entrepreneurs spend a lot of their time trying to find a way to avoid paying it," stated Dr. Begovic. "This is, to my mind, the most shocking result of this research, and the most devastating fact of corruption in Serbia."
Dr. Begovic is encouraged by the present efforts in Serbia to fight corruption. He believes the key personnel of the new Serbian government understand the importance of fighting corruption, and "education of the people" is an important element of the government's agenda. In addition, he said, "A few NGOs are involved in corruption issues and they have effectively put a lot of pressure on the public and the government." In light of all these activities, Dr. Begovic said, "Once I received the criticism by an American official that these activities are not coordinated. I said, "Thank God they are not coordinated. We had a lot of coordination in the last 10 years. From now on, let's let the market do the trick.""
CLDS is a partner organization of CIPE, and their survey on corruption issues is part of a National Endowment for Democracy-funded project. Visit CLDS's Web site, www.clds.org.yu, for a full report of their survey results.