Serbia: Inflation increases in September
Consumer prices rose 0.78% in September over the previous month, slowing down from August’s 0.88% rise. The moderation was broad-based, with reduced price pressures recorded for food and non-alcoholic beverages, housing and utilities, and transportation.
Inflation increased to 5.7% in September from August’s 4.3%. September’s reading marked the highest inflation rate since August 2013. Meanwhile, the trend pointed up, with annual average inflation coming in at 2.7% in September (August: 2.4%). Lastly, harmonized inflation rose to 5.6% in September, from the previous month’s 4.2%.
Analysts at the EIU added:
“Inflated base effects in energy prices, pockets of post-restriction price growth and significant disruption to global supply chains have buoyed recent headline inflation […]. The influence of these factors will linger for a time but will gradually diminish in 2022. A pandemic-weakened labor market, a relatively stable dinar and well-anchored inflation expectations among domestic price-setters point to moderate, if firming, underlying price pressures. We estimate average inflation at 3.2% in 2021 and expect it to average 2.4% per year in 2022-26.”