Tabakovic: Inflation to be Cut in Half by Year’s End

Jorgovanka Tabakovic (BETAPHOTO)

The National Bank of Serbia (NBS) governor, Jorgovanka Tabakovic, said on March 6 that Serbia could expect a significant drop in inflation in the second half of the year, and that it should be cut in half compared to the beginning of 2023, when it stood at 15.8 percent.

“We expect the target rate back in mid-2024, sooner than predicted in November,” the central bank governor said during the Kopaonik Business Forum, hosted by Serbia’s largest ski resort from March 5 to March 8.

Tabakovic said that her bank expected Serbia’s GDP growth to range between two and three percent by the end of the year, and that the growth rate should jump to between three and four percent as of 2024 first, and then go back to the pre-pandemic value of around four percent.

The NBS governor predicts that current account deficit will gradually drop to close to five percent of GDP, based largely on improvements in Serbia’s trade deficit.

The governor criticized individual efforts to artificially weaken the dinar against the euro, explaining that the relative stability of the dinar against the EU currency that had been protected was one of the pillars of financial stability, predictability in doing business, the confidence of investors and consumers alike.