Inflation in Serbia is a consequence of global price growth due to the start of the economy, after the shock wave of the coronavirus pandemic, and it will calm down in the fall of 2022, said economist Sasa Djogovic.
“The growth of prices in the world, even in Serbia, was stimulated by the growth of demand due to the start of the economy, which increased the prices of oil and transport,” Djogovic told Beta.
He said that the drought in Serbia has reduced the production of primary agricultural products and food, that, for example, in Switzerland, the rain has destroyed wheat, and the common consequence is reduced supply and price increases.
He added that this year’s inflation is not a disease of the Serbian economy, but that the trigger for the growth of prices in the world was a pandemic that first brought down, and then started demand.
According to the National Bank, year-on-year inflation in Serbia amounted to 4.3 percent in August and was lower than year-on-year inflation in most Central and Southeast European countries – 4.9 percent in Hungary, 5.3 percent in Romania, and Poland 5.5 percent. Only the Czech Republic had slightly lower year-on-year inflation than Serbia in August, where year-on-year overall inflation was 4.1 percent.
Djogovic said that inflation in Serbia had risen because “it is not an isolated island” and that a new “freeze” of demand should not be expected due to the pandemic flare-up because world economies do not plan new closures and aggravated and reduced business operations, but resort to various models of coronavirus infection.
Many countries in the world, he said, are resorting to stimulating vaccination and introducing various certificates that restrict the movement of unvaccinated citizens, but do not plan to stop the economy again.
“The Government of Serbia and the Crisis Staff are poorly managing the health situation and adopting measures as they see fit, which has an adverse effect on doing business in the economy,” said Djogovic.
He assessed that the state can only, in order to calm the growth of prices of certain food products, intervene and place goods on the market from commodity reserves, which would increase the supply and stop the growth of prices.
“It is possible, for example, to take edible oil out of commodity reserves and stop the growth of the price of that or some other product,” said Djogovic, N1 reports.
