Savings of the population in domestic currency at the end of June 2023 reached its new highest level and amounted to almost EUR 930 million, and during July it continued to grow and, according to operational data, exceeded EUR 938 million.
This is an indicator of preserved confidence in the domestic currency and the banking system, to which the preserved financial stability and the relative stability of the dinar exchange rate against the euro contributed.
As part of its strategy on dinarization of the financial system, the National Bank of Serbia affirms savings in local currency, pointing to its greater profitability.
Foreign exchange market and measures
During the first half of 2023, the relative stability of the dinar exchange rate against the euro was preserved. In this year (until the end of July), the National Bank of Serbia has net purchased 2.4 billion euros on the foreign exchange market, which as a key factor was reflected in the further growth of foreign exchange reserves to the level of 23.1 billion euros at the end of July 2023 and represents their the highest amount at the end of the month since data has been tracked in this way (since 2000). This level of foreign exchange reserves covers over six months of imports of goods and services, which is twice the minimum stipulated by international standards.
Greater profitability in dinars compared to foreign currency savings
The latest half-yearly analysis of the profitability of savings confirms that a saver in local currency on a deposit of 100,000 dinars fixed for one year and renewed annually for a period of eleven years at the end of the fixed-term period, in June 2023, would receive close 400 euros more from a saver who would deposit the same amount in euros for the same term.
And dinar savings with a term of one year, which have not been renewed in the past eleven years, were even more profitable than savings in euros in 98 percent of the observed annual sub-periods.
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