Serbia: Central Bank stands pat in January
At its first meeting of the new year on 14 January, the Executive Board of the National Bank of Serbia decided to keep the key policy rate at the all-time low of 1.00%, after lowering it by 25 basis points at its previous meeting in December.
In deliberating the decision, the Bank assessed that previous monetary and fiscal policy action has had the desired effect on the economy. The Board also took into account the expected macroeconomic developments that should improve financial conditions for businesses and households, and increase their disposable income. Moreover, the Bank stated that recovering domestic and foreign demand should lead to a “more than complete recovery” of the economy this year and strong growth thereafter. It added that the reasons for its optimism were “the preserved production capacities and employment during the pandemic, the accelerated implementation of infrastructure projects, FDI inflow that remained relatively high and project-diversified, the secured favorable financial conditions, and the expected improvement of the epidemiological situation owing to the initiated vaccination”. Meanwhile, low and stable inflation in the past year provided the Bank with room to hold rates at their current level.
In the accompanying press release, the Bank reaffirmed its commitment to support economic growth and to continuously assess factors impacting price stability.
The next meeting is scheduled for 11 February.