Central bank releases new information about inflation in Serbia: "Consistent with expectations"

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The National Bank of Serbia (NBS) has announced that year-on-year inflation in Serbia has dropped to a single-digit level of 8.5%, consistent with NBS expectations, basing this on the data from the Statistical Office of Serbia.

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The decline was aided mainly by a further slowdown in growth in food prices and the prices of products and services within core inflation (CPI excluding the prices of food, energy, alcohol and cigarettes).

The NBS said in a statement that monthly inflation measured 0.3%, similarly to the previous two months. It was led mainly by the rising prices of products and services within core inflation (0.5%) and energy prices (0.3%). The prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages remained unchanged, on average.

As for food prices, fresh vegetable prices fell by 3.3%, or by over 20% in July–October. The rise in processed food prices retained the Q3 dynamics (0.2%), signalling the stabilization of the food staples market, the NBS said.

This reflects the easing of cost-push pressures in food production, as indicated by a 1.6% reduction in producer prices in the food industry in the year to October.

In October, year-on-year food price growth came close to a single digit level, equaling 10.5% – the lowest level on record in the past two years.

Compared to the previous two months, the October growth in energy prices decelerated significantly, owing to a moderated rise in petroleum product prices (0.2%). At the same time, energy price growth slowed to 7.4% y-o-y.

The prices of products and services within core inflation continued to slow in y-o-y terms (7.3%), while their monthly movement mirrored the seasonal price hikes of some products and services (tuition fees, clothes and footwear).

Under the new projection too, y-o-y inflation is likely to measure around 8% late this year.

(Telegraf Biznis)