In the Serbian financial and corporate sectors, inflation will decline in the coming year

June 24 (SeeNews) – The Serbian financial sector’s inflation expectations for the next year in May remained unchanged month-on-month at 3.9%, staying within the central bank’s target range of 1.5-4.5% for the fifth month in a row. – the NBS central bank reported.

In May, the corporate sector’s expectations for the coming year remained unchanged for the third month in a row at 5.0%, NBS said in a statement on Friday, citing the results of the Ninamedia survey.

“The survey results show that both the financial and corporate sectors expect inflationary pressures to further weaken in the coming period,” the NBS noted.

In January, the Serbian financial sector’s inflation expectations for the coming year were within the NBS target range for the first time in almost two years.

Moreover, according to the statement, inflation expectations of the financial sector and enterprises for two and three years ahead are mostly lower than short-term expectations.

In May, financial sector inflation expectations for two years fell to 3.2% from April’s 3.3% and remained unchanged at 3.0% for three years. Businesses’ medium-term expectations for two years ahead fell to 4.5% in May from April’s 5.0%, before returning to the NBS target range after more than two years. However, the corporate sector’s three-year expectations increased to 4.0% in May from 3.8% in April.

In early June, Statistics Serbia reported that annual consumer price inflation slowed to 4.5% in May from 5% in April, in line with NBS expectations that annual inflation would return to the target range of 1.5-4 in May, 5%, which is a month earlier than previously expected. Inflation should approach the target midpoint by the end of 2024 and hover around that level over the medium term, the central bank said.