Jorgovanka Tabaković: Overview of recent monetary and macroeconomic trends in Serbia

Introductory speech by Dr Jorgovanka Tabaković, Governor of the National Bank of Serbia, at the presentation of the Inflation Report, Belgrade, 18 August 2021.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Ladies and gentlemen, esteemed members of the press, dear colleagues,

Allow me to bid you welcome to the live presentation of the August Inflation Report after more than a year, with a sincere wish that in the coming period we continue to hold press conferences in this manner.

Apart from monetary policy decisions and our estimates about inflation movements, one of the spotlight topics in the world, I believe that the fact that we have revised our most important macroeconomic projections will be of special interest and importance to you. I am sure that you all know very well that when the National Bank of Serbia revises its projections and communicates that to the public, such revisions are always based on serious and detailed analyses and firm arguments. This is the reason why we stand before you today, in a good mood and ready to answer any questions you may have.

Though the risks emanating from the international environment still persist, the Serbian economy continues to grow, even faster than initially expected. Such movements were largely supported by a comprehensive package of measures adopted already at the start of the pandemic. I have emphasized that publicly several times before and I will do so again – timely and well-calibrated measures of monetary and fiscal policies minimised the economic consequences of the pandemic, accelerating the recovery of our economy. We reacted timely and adequately, and that way, at the time of greatest uncertainty, we prevented the spillover of the pandemic-induced crisis on the fall in business and consumer confidence. At the same time, we managed to preserve the labour market and production capacities of the economy. Illustrative of this is the fact that we ended the year 2020 with one of the best economic results in Europe, and this year we expect to maintain the leading economic performance.