Serbia: Inflation ebbs in January from December
Latest reading: Consumer prices rose 2.4% on a year-on-year basis in January, following a 2.8% rise in the previous month. Inflation thus remained in the lower half of the Central Bank’s 1.5–4.5% target band. January’s reading was the weakest since March 2021.
Relative to the prior month’s data, there were milder price pressures for food and non-alcoholic beverages (-1.0% on a year-on-year basis vs -0.9% in December), transportation (-0.4% vs +1.9% in December) and clothing and footwear (+1.9% vs +2.2% in December). In contrast, there were more notable price pressures for housing and utilities (+8.5% vs +7.5% in December) and restaurants and hotels (+8.2% vs +7.1% in December).
Meanwhile, core consumer prices rose 4.1% on a year-on-year basis in January, following a 4.0% rise in the prior month.
Finally, consumer prices increased 0.30% in January on a month-on-month basis, following a 0.10% increase in the previous month.