Podgorica, (MINA-BUSINESS) – According to an analysis by the Top Business Montenegro (TBM) initiative, companies from Montenegro’s northern region account for just 6.36 percent of the country’s total business revenues, despite the region covering 52.9 percent of Montenegro’s territory.

Ratko Nikolic, founder and CEO of BI Consulting and chief analyst for the TBM initiative, who presented an analysis of the performance of companies in the northern part of the country for the period from 2021 to last year, said the data confirms that the economic gap between the north and the rest of the country has not narrowed, despite increased business activity over the past five years.

“Only 23.8 percent of Montenegro’s population lives in the north, but economic indicators are significantly below even that share. The northern region’s share in the number of submitted financial statements fell from 11.79 percent in 2021 to 10.93 percent last year, while its share in total employment declined from 10.67 percent to 9.55 percent,” Nikolic said at the first regional edition of the TBM Business Talks platform in Bijelo Polje.

At the same time, the region’s share of total business revenues declined from 6.74 percent to 6.36 percent, while its share of net results fell from 24.31 percent to 5.98 percent.

“There is one deviation here from 2021. At that time, almost 25 percent of net profit was generated in northern municipalities. We should remember that this was the first post-Covid year, when tourism had not yet recovered, while food production and energy emerged as the most resilient sectors of the economy, and these are particularly represented in the north, especially in Bijelo Polje and Pljevlja. This data could be important for future planning and the development of northern municipalities,” Nikolic said.

The analysis also showed a pronounced internal concentration of economic activity in the northern region. Almost 30 percent of all registered companies are located in Bijelo Polje, while together with Berane, Rozaje and Pljevlja, the municipality accounts for almost 90 percent of the region’s total economic activity. The remaining nine municipalities account for only around 11 percent of registered companies.