At the start of the pandemic, the National Bank (NBS) predicted that Serbia would record GDP growth of around 6% this year. “Serbia will be one of the few countries in Europe that will not only reach but exceed the level of economic activity of the pre-pandemic period in 2021,” said NBS Governor Jorgovanka Tabaković.
“Data from the first quarter show that growth will be above 6%,” Tabaković said for Politika daily. “Thanks to many private and state investments, as well as strong growth in industry and exports, Serbia has recorded 1.2% year-on-year GDP growth in the first quarter, as at the pre-crisis level of GDP in the first quarter,” she added.
“In the first three months of this year, the FDI influx was almost one billion euro and state capital investment increased by 13.7%,” Tabaković said.
According to her, at the annual level, half of the expected growth will surely be the result of the growth in industry and construction, while the other half should come from the service sector.
In the previous three years, Serbia had received EUR 10.3 billion in foreign direct investment, and from the beginning of 2018 to the end of 2020, the country managed to have more investments than Hungary, twice as much as Bulgaria and three times as much as Slovakia.
As for the region, Serbia alone has attracted more investors than Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro combined.
Regarding inflation expectations, Tabaković said that inflation in most countries, including Serbia, is at a slightly higher level.
“A temporary factor influencing the growth of inflation is mainly the fluctuations of the global crude oil price, which was at an extremely low level in 2020 during the outbreak of the coronavirus,” she outlined.
(Srbija Danas, 30.05.2021)
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