Expert: EUR1,400 Average Wage in Serbia by end-2026 Is an Unachievable Goal  

Serbian dinars (Shutterstock)

Branimir Jovanovic, Western Balkans expert at the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (WIIW) has dismissed the possibility of the average wage in Serbia reaching EUR1,400 by the end of 2026, as it would mean wage increase of 25 percent annually over the next three years.

Commenting on Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic’s statement that the average wage in Serbia would go up to EUR1,4000 in three year’s time, 
Jovanovic told BETA as inflation had been projected to moderate,  he could not see how wages could rise 25 percent annually. He also said more than the wage sum itself, far more important was what that amount could buy, that is, the wage real value, recalling that the average wage real value at the end of 2023 was below that at the end of 2021.

In the past ten years, an average economic growth in Serbia was very weak. In 2012, the Serbia and Montenegro wage were around 40 percent of the EU wage. Since, Montenegro’s grew to around 50 percent and Serbia’s to 44 percent of the EU wage. The 2012 wage in Bulgaria, the least developed EU country, was 47 percent of the EU income, while it is 62 percent today,” Jovanovic specified.

According to him, Serbia has great potential, arguably the biggest in the region, relatively good education, quality labor, solid transit infrastructure, favorable geographical position, but the potential has not been used, which has been largely due to years of pursuing wrong economic model, relying primarily on foreign investments.  

Jovanovic further said that foreign investors were not to blame for Serbia’s low economic growth, but achieving better results would also require domestic investments, primarily of small and medium-sized enterprises.