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The aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the business operations of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Serbia as well as to identify the best ways to overcome the crisis effects and stimulate further SME growth. On a sample of 689 SMEs in Serbia, in the present paper we study the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on both the overall business of firms and certain aspects of their business (demand, logistics, organization of business activities, collection of trade receivables, and access to financing). The results of our research suggest that the crisis effects vary across the SME sector depending on the business activity, size, region an SME operates in, and the extent of achieved business digitalization and networking during the pandemic. Lastly, based on the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on the business operations of SMEs in Serbia and taking into account the experiences of other economies with the COVID-19 crisis as well as the lessons learned from previous crises, in this paper we highlight the significance of innovation and possible innovation responses of SMEs to the crisis effects as the ways to overcome it.

The paper presents a legislative and institutional framework of regional development in Serbia, as well as the analysis of regional disparities across different geography, elaborated through six selected indicators: population and population density (analyzed as a single indicator), Regional GDP, Employment, Unemployment, Business Demography and Budgetary Revenues per capita. Indicators are analyzed at the all three NUTS, as defined by the Law on Regional Development, and at the local level (cities and municipalities). In the analysis, the paper applies the unweighted Gini index of regional disparity that was used in calculating disparities within each observed indicator. The results are presented within the tables and figures that show changes of the Gini index across years of observation. The paper showed that highest regional disparities in Serbia are at the local and NUTS 3 level. Disparities at those two levels are stable across the years. Disparities at NUTS 1 and NUTS 2 levels are also high, yet lower than at the bellow territorial levels (NUTS 3 and the local level). However, disparity at these two levels grows much faster than at the NUTS 3 and local level.

Solvency II as a new, risk-based regulatory framework for the insurance sector, setting high requirements in terms of capital adequacy, risk management and reporting for insurance companies, has been applied in the European Union as of January 1st, 2016. The paper deals with the analysis of the first effects of Solvency II on the insurers' balance sheet and solvency, based on the published statistical data. Risk margin sensitivity to interest rates, volatility of the capital, high and imprecise disclosure requirements, incompliance with international financial reporting standards and excessive conservatism of the standard approach are identified as key problems in the concept implementation, and possible ways to overcome these are proposed in the paper. It is concluded that continuous adjustment of Solvency II to the current macroeconomic trends is necessary for the purpose of its successful functioning in practice. Therefore, the process of developing this concept, despite the fact that its application has officially started, cannot be considered as terminated, or its methodology and parameters as permanently defined.