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 August Inflation Report, Belgrade, 14 August 2024.

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,

Welcome to the presentation of the August Inflation Report. As usual, at today's conference we will present current economic developments, our new macroeconomic projections and monetary policy decisions adopted since the last Report.

At the very beginning, I wish to emphasise that since the previous Report, first and foremost, inflation returned within the target bounds and inflation expectations fell further, enabling us to embark on monetary policy easing. This means that we have won our battle against inflation and that, going ahead, it will move at levels consistent with our target. In addition, as GDP growth in the first half of the year turned out to be faster than expected, we increased the economic growth projection for this year to 3.8%, anticipating further growth acceleration to 4–5% in the next two years. The recorded economic growth and preserved financial stability, coupled with the decline in the share of NPLs in total loans to below 3%, confirm that we managed to provide both medium-term price stability and a soft landing with our appropriate monetary policy which was tightened in the previous period continuously, but at a gradual and moderate pace.

I will give more details on all these points further on.