The Revival of Yugoslav Foreign Trade After the Suspension of Sanctions

Abstract

Foreign trade has been crucial to the Yugoslav economy since the founding of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) at the end of World War II. The Titoist government of the SFRY was determined to build the Yugoslav economy on the basis of active involvement in the world market, and it was aided in that task by the ample economic assis tance it requested and received from the international community. The SFRY was among the founders of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank and an active member of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Other former European socialist countries did not join these international institutions until after 1989. The most important step taken by the SFRY to advance its participa tion in the world market was the abandonment of its state monopoly in foreign trade in 1966 (a move followed by the other European former so cialist countries only in 1990). Yugoslavia allowed its firms to have direct contact and trade with foreign companies. These firms took vigorous ad This article is based on a paper presented at the International Conference on Central and