Index of economic mood and its components by countries of the region

Both the businesses and consumers see that the zenith of Serbia’s ongoing economic recovery is behind us—from the position of the best “economic mood” in the region, which it held during the pandemic until July 2021, Serbia falls to the second lowest mood (after the most affected North Macedonia), especially since January.

Serbia was one of the countries that took the lead in the post-pandemic recovery, but also a country where the decline in economic sentiment began even before the war in Ukraine

Perceptions of the sectors moved in opposite directions, where the sales and service sectors managed to maintain a relatively high level, while the industry, construction and consumer “sector” experienced a sharper decline. Even if the consumer sentiment managed to remain at an enviable level throughout the corona period, it started to decline sharply from July 2021 and reached the level of -6.8%, which is its lowest value since September 2017. The sentiment in the industry and construction sectors sharply began to decline with the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine. The development of events in these two sectors can be connected with the sudden increase in the prices of energy, construction, and raw materials, as well as with problems in supply chains. Both sectors contribute negatively to the economic mood and are at the level of -2% and -7%, respectively. Three sectors with a negative sign indicate that more than half of the economy perceives the current situation as worse than usual. On the other hand, sentiment in the sales and service sectors managed to remain at a high level of 8.7 and 10.8%, respectively, and thus contributed positively to the composite index of economic sentiment in Serbia.

The index is currently at the level of 96.10%, which is the lowest value since the end of 2020.

The situation in other countries can be viewed in the chart below by selecting the country you are interested in, and for details click here.