Socialist Banking: The Continuous Evolution of the Banking Sector in Yugoslavia (1944/45–1991/92)

Abstract

The article explores the influence of the ideological and political frameworks and changes in the physiognomy of social, economic and internal political relations, as well as the foreign policy orientation, on the structure of the banking sector in socialist Yugoslavia, The attempt is to determine the appearance and the important features of the banking sector, the sequence of reforms that marked this field of economic life in the second half of the 20th century, as well as the effectiveness of the observed changes. The overview is provided of the characteristics of the different phases that the Yugoslav banking system, starting with the development of the socialist banking system, planned organization and rigid centralization, through various phases of decentralization, central plan weakening and introduction of market elements, to the shaping (and reshaping) of the self-management banking system and its repercussions on the country’s economic unity.