Tabakovic: Foot-dragging on NIS sale exhausting for Serbia, generating additional costs

BELGRADE - National Bank of Serbia (NBS) Governor Jorgovanka Tabakovic said on Wednesday foot-dragging on a sale of a Russian-majority stake in the Serbian oil company NIS was exhausting for the country and generating additional costs, and noted that it was important that NIS continued normal operations after the expiry of its current licence, issued by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

Since October 9, 2025, NIS has been under US sanctions due to its Russian-majority ownership.

An OFAC licence for talks on changes to the company's ownership structure has been extended until May 22, 2026.

"This foot-dragging is something that is exhausting for us, something that costs us, and it is exhausting for us in every sense," Tabakovic told reporters at the presentation of the NBS May Inflation Report.

She said the Serbian leadership was fighting to exercise its ownership rights and help achieve a change of ownership that would not jeopardise NIS's further operations.

She also said continued operations of the petrochemical plant were very important for the country.

Tabakovic noted that, as NBS governor, she had no say on the NIS issue.

"I also had no say when Komercijalna banka was privatised, which I will never be able to get over," she added.

Tabakovic: Serbian inflation to average 3.6 pct in 2026

BELGRADE - National Bank of Serbia (NBS) Governor Jorgovanka Tabakovic said on Wednesday that, under the central bank's new projection, Serbian inflation would continue to move within a 3±1.5 pct target tolerance band and average 3.6 pct this year, and that the NBS had revised downwards its 2026 GDP growth projection for Serbia from 3.5 pct to 3.0 pct.

The inflation forecast is up from the previously projected 3.3 pct, a presentation of the May Inflation Report was told. "

According to our new central projection, inflation will remain within the target band over the remainder of the current quarter and throughout the third quarter," Tabakovic said.

"A sharp increase in global oil prices and other primary commodities, combined with the low base from September last year due to the implementation of the decree capping wholesale and retail trade margins at 20 pct, will temporarily push inflation slightly above the upper bound of the target towards the end of this year and at the beginning of next. Thereafter, inflation will decelerate and return to within the target band, with average inflation in the second quarter of 2027 projected at the upper bound of the target.

We also expect inflation to continue slowing gradually over the remainder of 2027 and to remain within the target band until the end of the projection horizon. The disinflation process over the coming year will be supported by the still restrictive monetary policy stance, the expected gradual easing of cost-push pressures from the international environment, and the anticipated slowdown in growth of real wages and their closer alignment with productivity gains.

Further strengthening of demand anticipated in 2027 due to the hosting of the international exhibition EXPO is not expected to generate pressures that would push inflation outside the target band. An important assumption underlying this projection is that the energy shock will be temporary and that, as early as the third quarter of this year, global oil prices – and consequently the prices of other primary commodities – will begin to decline and continue falling until the end of the projection horizon," she said.

"In the first quarter, inflation has been lower than expected and has been moving below the target midpoint of 3 pct. The significant increase in global energy prices has so far not been reflected to a greater extent in inflation expectations of the financial and corporate sectors. However, higher energy costs affect inflation not only directly, through higher prices of petroleum products, but also indirectly through increases in the prices of food, industrial goods and services, while higher costs and lower disposable income on this basis will also be reflected in economic growth. Therefore, like other central banks, we have revised our inflation projection upwards and our economic activity projection downwards compared to our February projection," she said.

"Due to the tightening of geopolitical tensions amid the outbreak of war in the Middle East, our projection of GDP growth for this year was revised from 3.5 pct to 3.0 pct. At the same time, due to the protracted impact of global uncertainty on investment confidence ever since the last year, the 2027 economic growth was revised from 5.0 pct to 4.5 pct," Tabakovic said. "In such a challenging environment, the NBS conducts a cautious monetary policy and, in cooperation with the Government, strives to preserve macroeconomic stability in Serbia and has been successful in doing so," she also said.