The Vice Governor of the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) Nikola Dragašević said that citizens are saving more and more every year, that total savings are growing and that savings in banks, according to the latest NBS data, amounts to 15.1 one billion euros.
According to him, this year, dinar savings increased by 23 percent, and this, as he assessed, shows that the macroeconomic environment is good, that there are conditions and opportunities for savings, and that it is profitable.
Savings in Serbia, compared to the countries of the European Union, are at a low level – only 15 percent of GDP.
Dušan Uzelac, said that it is not known how much money is in houses and in “straws”, and that this ratio might change further.
“In Europe, for example, on average, everything over 500 euros is in the bank. In Serbia, it is certainly not the limit, and that is what may be spoiling the statistics, but, regardless of that, we also have an attitude towards saving that is correct”, Uzelac believes.
Dragašević reminded that the NBS indicates three times a year whether it is more profitable to save in dinars or foreign currency.
“A saver who put a representative 100,000 dinars in the bank in the previous year was in a better position by about 18 euros, that is, slightly above 2,000 dinars, than a saver in foreign currency, that is, in euros,” said Dragašević.
The reason, as he emphasized, is the relatively higher interest rates on dinar savings compared to foreign currency savings and the more favorable tax treatment of dinar savings, given that income from interest on dinars is not taxed, while income from interest on foreign currency savings is taxed at the tax rate. of 15 percent.
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