EBRD affirms Serbia's 2024 GDP growth f'cast at 3.5%

In 2025, Serbia’s gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to increase by 4%, the EBRD said in its Regional Economic Prospects report.

“After growing at 2.5% in 2022 and 2023, economic activity appears to be accelerating in the first few months of 2024 as short-term indicators for the first two months of 2024 for industrial production, real retail trade, and tourism indicate strong growth,” the lender said.

The current account deficit continued to narrow in the first two months of 2024 with a rise in the exports of goods and services and a fall in the imports of goods, while the pending final review of the standby deal with the IMF would unlock access to 400 million euro.

Serbia’s GDP grew by a real 4.6% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2024, the country’s statistical office said in a flash estimate last month.

The economic output of the Western Balkans region, which includes Serbia, is expected to increase by 3.3% in 2024, revised upwards from an estimated growth rate of 3.2% in September. It is then projected to expand 3.7% in 2025.