In the last four months, including May, when industrial production in Serbia increased by 1.5%, its total annual growth was contributed exclusively by the production of electricity, but that incentive has been exhausted – it was stated in the latest, July issue of the monthly Macroeconomic Analysis and trends (MAT).
The dynamics of foreign trade has, as stated, declined, with the fact that, in contrast to exports, which continue to grow, imports are declining, which has a favorable effect on the narrowing of the deficit.
Lower energy imports had the greatest impact on the decline in total merchandise imports.
The deficit of the current account of the balance of payments in the period January-April is insignificant, only EUR 20.5 million, and is 99% lower than in the same period of the previous year.
In May 2023, inflation in Serbia increased on a monthly basis and decreased on an annual basis. In April and May 2023, monthly inflation of 0.7% and 0.9%, and year-on-year inflation of 15.1% and 14.8% were registered.
In May of this year, the year-on-year inflation slowdown that started only the previous month continued.
Monthly inflation in May increased exclusively under the influence of temporary factors.
Year-on-year inflation was higher in Serbia than in the EU in April and May, and lower in Serbia than in the two EU countries where it was the highest. Year-on-year inflation was 14.8% in April and 14.5% in May in Serbia, and 8.1% in April and 7.1% in May in the EU.
In April 2023, two EU countries had higher year-on-year inflation than Serbia, Latvia (15%) and Hungary (24.5%), and in May only Hungary (21.9%).
