Vienna Institute Predicts Lowest Growth, Highest Inflation for Serbia of All Western Balkans

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Serbia will have the lowest economic growth in the Western Balkans and Montenegro the highest, according to predictions of the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies.

The Institute predicted GDP growth of 1.3 percent for Serbia, after last year’s 2.3 percent. Serbia’s budget for 2023 predicted growth of 2.5 percent. The National Bank of Serbia predicted between two and three percent, while two percent was the prediction of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

According to predictions of the Vienna-based institute, Serbia’s GDP will grow by 2.4 percent in 2024 and by three percent in 2025. Montenegro, Kosovo and Albania will all grow by more than three percent, that is by 3.5, 3.4 and 3.3 percent respectively. Bosnia and Herzegovina’s GDP will grow by 1.5 and North Macedonia’s by 1.6 percent.

In the entire Western Balkans, GDP growth will average at 1.9 percent in 2023, 2.8 percent in 2024 and a little over three percent in 2025, reads the statement of the Institute. As for inflation in the Western Balkans in 2023, the predicted average is 9.5 percent, with the highest rate, of 12 percent, predicted in Serbia, and the lowest in Albania – four percent.