Tabakovic: Dinar's decline caused by debts and Ukraine

BELGRADE - National Bank of Serbia (NBS) Governor Jorgovanka Tabakovic has said she is not worried about the fall of the national currency to a historic low of RSD 116.74 for one euro on Thursday, explaining that the reasons for that were a bad state of Serbia’s public finances and the Ukraine crisis.

“The current fluctuations are primarily a consequence of an increased uncertainty both locally (pace of consolidation of public finances in Serbia) and internationally (geopolitical situation concerning Ukraine),” Tabakovic said for Belgrade-based daily tabloid Kurir.

The governor noted that the current volatility of the local currency was nothing serious and she expected no inflationary pressures or negative impact on the standard of living of citizens.
“Inflation is currently at its lowest in the last 50 years and every indicator shows that it will continue to be low and stable in the future. The standard of living is undoubtedly low, but the cause is not inflation, but rather the particularly difficult economic situation and high unemployment,” said Tabakovic.

The Serbian dinar managed to recover from yesterday's fall, rising by 0.1 percent, or 11 para, and setting the official middle exchange rate at RSD 116.6372 for one euro today.

Photo Tanjug/Z. Zestic (archive)