World Bank: Serbia's 2023 GDP growth to be around 2 pct

BELGRADE - In its latest forecast, the World Bank said Serbia's 2023 GDP growth would be around 2 pct despite an anticipated acceleration of economic activity in the second half of the year.

In the first half of the year, the Serbian economy grew at a lower-than-expected rate, especially at the beginning of the year, with Q1 GDP growth estimated at as low as 0.9 pct, the World Bank said at the presentation of its Western Balkans Regular Economic Report.

Although it has begun to decline, Serbian inflation is still among the highest in Europe and is expected to return to within the National Bank of Serbia target band in mid-2024.

World Bank Senior Macroeconomist Lazar Sestovic said Serbia's fiscal performance was better than expected and that the deficit was lower than anticipated, mostly due to good performance on the revenue side.

He said Serbia's debt-to-GDP ratio had stabilised at around 56 pct, and noted that the current account deficit was projected to be lower-than-expected at around 2.5 pct of GDP and that a strong inflow of FDI was expected to continue.