The General Secretary of the Serbian Association of Banks, Vladimir Vasić, said that it seems that inflation has stopped because in November and December last year it was identical and amounted to 15 percent.
“Inflation seems to have stopped but let’s wait another month and then draw the line. Let’s see if it’s really so. It seems to me that it is, and if inflation continues to decline, at the end of this year, it will probably stand at between 9 to 11 percent,” said Vasić.
He adds that it is necessary to wait to see how inflation will continue to behave, that is, as he said, how all the factors that caused inflation, such as the “conflict in Ukraine and broken supply chains”, will develop, which Vasić says have largely contributed to the jump in inflation.
When it comes to interest rates, Vasić says that raising the benchmark interest rate does not automatically mean higher interest rates on loans.
“Certainly, as soon as there is less money in circulation, money becomes more valuable and banks are ultimately money dealers. You have money, I have money, we deposit money in a bank and we have a good reason why we keep it there. That money is more expensive”, explains Vasić.
Vasić points out that the people who took out mortgages feel the change in interest rates the most. He also hopes that next year, i.e. as soon as inflation reaches about three percent, interest rates will start to fall.
(Politika, 26.01.2023)
https://www.politika.rs/sr/clanak/534277/inflacija-stagnacija-krediti-pad-rata
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