MAT: Industrial Production in Serbia Growing, Not Just Due to Mining, But Also Manufacturing Sector

Industrial production in Serbia is growing, not just due to an increase in the production in mining, but also due to the recovery of the manufacturing sector, according to the latest issue of the Makroekonomske analize i trendovi (MAT) publication.

– The statistical indicators at the end of 2021 show that the tendencies of economic trends are moving in a positive direction. The trends of the growth of the total industrial production are growing, not just due to the increased production of the Chinese company Zijin at RTB Bor, but also because the manufacturing industry, following a period of decline and stagnation, has started growing again – said research program editor Ivan Nikolic.

He added that the deseasonalized and year-on-year growths are characteristic for both the overall industry and the manufacturing industry.

Nikolic said that, in both November and December 2021, exports and imports alike grew and that, throughout the year, the growth rate of the value of the exports was slightly higher than the growth rate of the value of the imports. The year-on-year increase of the imports in December, however, he said, was far higher than the growth of the exports.

According to Gordana Vukotic-Cotic, the year-on-year inflation rate in September 2021 exceeded the upper limit of the targeted inflation band and was at its highest level since August 2013.

– In October, November and December, the growth of the year-on-year inflation was accelerating, but in December itself, the monthly growth of prices was more than twice as small as in the preceding four months – Vukotic-Cotic said.

She added that the year-on-year growth was down to the stability of the prices in the previous year. The main component of the growth of the inflation, she said, is the extraordinary growth of the global prices of unprocessed food and energy.

On a monthly level, in December 2021, the prices increased in all the main categories of the consumer basket, except for energy, whose prices remained at the level from the previous month.

Serbia had a higher year-on-year inflation that the EU average in both November and December 2021, and a lower year-on-year inflation than two EU states in November and three EU states in December 2021.

In November and December 2021, year-on-year inflation in Serbia was 7.5% and 7.9%, whereas in the EU it was 5.2% and 5.3%. Compared to Serbia, Estonia (8.6%) and Lithuania (9.3%) had a higher year-on-year inflation in November.

In December, Poland (8%), Lithuania (10.7%) and Estonia (12%) had a higher year-on-year inflation compared to Serbia.

Ekonomski Institut a.d. Beograd

Serbia Zijin Copper doo Bor

Makroekonomske analize i trendovi

MAT

Zijin

RTB Bor

Ivan Nikolić

Gordana Vukotić Cotić

industrial production

mining

manufacturing sector

manufacturing industry

exports

imports

inflation

price of food

price of energy