Popovic: Inflation is Not at 15%, But at Over 20%

The year 2022 was marked by economic troubles which affected the whole world, Serbia included. Due to the war in Ukraine, food and energy prices jumped rapidly, which, through the domino effect, caused the inflation, and then also the interest rates, to increase in all European countries. Borrowing has not been this expensive in a long time, which could further slow down the economic growth.

Danica Popovic, a professor at the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade, says in an interview for Euronews Serbia that the latest data of the Statistics Office, which show that the y-o-y inflation is at 15%, are in fact not a real indicator, because, as she says, some prices in Serbia have been frozen.

– The inflation is not at 15% and we know it well, because they have frozen certain prices. If the prices were what they are, we could see that it is over 20% or even more. The question here is who handles that cost when the price is frozen? Some trader. As consumers, we are a bit exempt from it, so we shouldn’t really complain that much – Popovic says.

Ekonomski fakultet Beograd

Republički zavod za statistiku

Narodna banka Srbije Beograd

Faculty of Economics

Statistical Office

NBS

National Bank of Serbia

Danica Popovic

war in Ukraine

food prices

energy prices

oil prices

inflation

growth of inflation

year on year inflation

imported inflation

growth of interest rates

freezing of prices