Between American crisis
and Russian money

His courageous statement appeared recently throughout all the important media: “If western banks start buckling, their priority will be to save the mother company while withdrawing money from far-off subsidiaries, so our banking sector risks going insolvent. So, Serbia must accept that a great deal of money and investment promised will never actually arrive. The atmosphere in Serbia is generally autistic, the belief is that the financial crisis that has shaken the whole world and spread to Europe at high speed will leave the Serbian economy untouched.”  

The Russia-based businessman says everything is all right there and that business is going according to plan. However, he believes that the world crisis could pose a treat to Serbia since we are “a weak and small market, and the withdrawal of several hundred million euros could create major shock waves. While governments throughout the world have been meeting for days and ministers going to unstinting and active lengths to stabilise financial institutions, while bank governors have been trying to get commercial banks to cooperate and everyone is trying to prevent the financial crisis from encroaching on to the real sector to avoid a recession, we in Serbia seem quite happy to bury our heads in the sand. Many countries more developed than Serbia are taking drastic steps to protect their stock exchanges, but we in Serbia are acting as if we were lying on a beach and enjoying ourselves, blissfully unaware of the approaching hurricane,” says Branislav Grujić, PSP Farman managing director.   

Russians and Americans alike respect him equally, as do Serbian construction companies all over the ex-USSR. They say he’s something special. Maybe it’s because he mastered the fastest international technologies. He was respected by the late Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić who, a day before his death, noted in his diary: “Gruja is coming from Moscow.” He is also planning to do business with Filip Cepter in domestic and foreign markets. He eagerly responded to Brandomania’s invitation and shared 45 minutes of his precious time somewhere between Moscow and Belgrade, one of his most frequent journeys. He is a father of two, son-in-law of Red Star legend Bora Kostić, and eagerly speaks of successes and crossroads – the favourite Serbian destination.

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