Free Trial

Serbia Inflation Continues To Surprise 'Positively', Rises To January 2013 high

CEE
  • This morning, economic data showed that Serbian inflation accelerated to 12.8% in July (vs. 12.3% exp.), its highest level since January 2013, up from 11.9% the previous month.
  • Yesterday, the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) maintained the pace of its tightening cycle and hiked the policy rate by 25bps to 3% (as expected).
  • It is the fifth time that the NBS is raising its benchmark rate (NBS has tightened by 200bps in total since March) as inflationary pressures have remained elevated in the entire CEE region.
  • The chart below shows the sharp divergence between Serbia inflation rate and the policy rate in the past year.
  • Prior the Ukraine war, it is likely that Serbia had been partly relying on its CEE peers' 'effort' (NBP, CNB and NBH), hoping that the gradual decline in inflation in H2 2022 will also have an impact on the domestic inflation.
  • This explains why Serbia has the lowest policy rate among the CEE region (after Bulgaria).
  • However, the new inflation shock has ‘forced' NBS policymakers to act, embarking in a gradual tightening cycle since the beginning of March.

Source: Bloomberg/MNI

To read the full story

Close

Why MNI

MNI is the leading provider

of intelligence and analysis on the Global Fixed Income, Foreign Exchange and Energy markets. We use an innovative combination of real-time analysis, deep fundamental research and journalism to provide unique and actionable insights for traders and investors. Our "All signal, no noise" approach drives an intelligence service that is succinct and timely, which is highly regarded by our time constrained client base.

Our Head Office is in London with offices in Chicago, Washington and Beijing, as well as an on the ground presence in other major financial centres across the world.