SERBIA:

Foreign Investors Council summarizes activities in 2018 – Advocating speeding up of reforms in Serbia to continue
The Foreign Investors Council will continue to advocate for speeding up the reforms and acceleration of accession negotiations in order to catch up with EU level of economic development, the president of the FIC, Yana Mikhailova, emphasized at the regular annual session of the Assembly, held on December 21, 2018, the FIC announced. Three key FIC expectations from the Government are to achieve sustainable fiscal consolidation (structural reforms, especially privatization and corporatization of state-owned enterprises), improve law implementation, especially in tax area (strengthening tax administration), and provide more transparency in public consultations with focus on reforms in 8 priority topics: tax, labor, digitalization & e-commerce, real-estate, inspections, food safety, and overall legal framework, with emphasis on regulations on bankruptcy and foreign exchange operations. We hope that the re-launched joint Task Force with the Government will bring the tangible results next year – Mikhailova said.
Source: Ekapija

NBS: Strategy of inflation targeting resulted in a low and stable inflation in Serbia
The National Bank of Serbia (NBS) has summed up the past five years since adopting a regime of inflation targeting a decade ago. The key results are low and stable inflation, rising confidence in the national currency and increased resilience of the economy to external shocks, Tanjug reported, citing the central bank. The initial years of inflation targeting (2009-2012) were marked by high and volatile inflation, which reached 14.7 percent in April 2011, followed by a strong decline from 2013 to the level of around 2 percent, where, on average, it was kept in the five years that followed. Today, inflation is at a level comparable to developed European economies - year-on-year inflation in November was at 1.9 percent, NBS said.
Source: NBS

IT market in Serbia grows by 8% – Total value estimated at EUR 522.7 million
The State Secretary at the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications, Tatjana Matic, announced that the value of Serbia's IT market in 2018 was estimated at around EUR 522.7 million, a growth of 8% compared to 2017. She said that the market of IT services is expected to have the highest growth, around 13.5%, followed by software packages, with the growth of around 10.4%, and the delivery of IT equipment, with the growth of around 2.6%.
Source: Ekapija

REGION:

SORS: Average net salary in October at RSD 49,901 or EUR 426
Average gross salaries and wages calculated for October 2018 amounted to 69,012 RSD, while average net salaries and wages amounted to 49,901 RSD, SORS reported. Growth of gross salaries and wages in the period January-October 2018 compared to the same period last year was 5.9% in nominal terms and 3.8% in real terms. At the same time, net salaries and wages increased by 6.4% in nominal terms and by 4.3% in real terms. Compared with the same month last year, average gross salaries and wages for October 2018 increased by 7.5% in nominal terms and by 5.2% in real terms, while average net salaries and wages increased by 8.0% in nominal terms and by 5.7% in real terms.
Source: SORS

INO:

US&EU markets closed