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BIRODI: Serbia's central bank did not confirm NGOs received 1.3 billion euros from abroad
🇷🇸 Serbia /Economy & Trade

BIRODI: Serbia's central bank did not confirm NGOs received 1.3 billion euros from abroad

From N1 Serbia · () Serbian

Translated from Serbian, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Official statement New plan
  • Serbia's central bank (NBS) has not confirmed claims that NGOs received 1.3 billion euros from abroad between 2021 and 2025.
  • The NBS clarified that the funds were received by a broad category of 'non-profit institutions providing services to the population,' which includes unions, political parties, churches, and sports clubs, not just NGOs.
  • BIRODI, a research organization, stated that the NBS did not confirm the figure as solely for NGOs and requested a breakdown of funds by category to avoid misleading the public.

The Serbian central bank (NBS) has not corroborated claims made by government officials that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) received 1.3 billion euros from abroad between 2021 and 2025. The Bureau for Social Research (BIRODI) stated that the NBS's response to their inquiry indicates the funds were allocated to a much broader group than just NGOs.

The National Bank of Serbia has not confirmed the claim that a group of legal entities referred to in part of the public as the 'NGO hydra' received 1.3 billion euros.

— BIRODIClarifying the central bank's position on NGO funding.

In its response, the NBS confirmed that 'non-profit institutions providing services to the population' received 1.3 billion euros. However, BIRODI pointed out that this category encompasses a wide array of entities, including trade unions, professional associations, academic societies, consumer protection groups, political parties, religious communities, cultural organizations, sports clubs, and charitable organizations, in addition to citizen associations.

The National Bank of Serbia did not state that such a group represents an official statistical or legal category.

— BIRODIAddressing the term 'NGO hydra'.

BIRODI emphasized that the NBS did not confirm the 1.3 billion euro figure as exclusively for NGOs, nor did it recognize 'NGO hydra' as an official statistical or legal category. The central bank's data is a statistical aggregate for a broad range of non-profit institutions (S.15), making it impossible to determine the exact amount received by individual types of legal entities or specific citizen associations.

This means that the figure of 1.3 billion euros cannot be presented as the amount received only by non-governmental organizations, nor as money received by any specifically designated group of associations.

— BIRODIExplaining the limitations of the NBS data.

Consequently, BIRODI has requested the NBS to provide a breakdown of the 1.3 billion euros by category, without revealing the identities of individual recipients. This data would clarify the percentage contribution of each type of non-profit actor to the total inflow. BIRODI warned that presenting the entire sum as funds received solely by NGOs would be methodologically inaccurate and could mislead the public, especially when linked to politically charged terms like 'NGO hydra.'

The NBS has not provided the names of individual legal entities or data on organizations that have had the largest inflows from abroad.

— BIRODIStating the lack of specific recipient information.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by N1 Serbia in Serbian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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