What must happen with NIS in order to "return to normal"?: Chair of the NBS Council of Governors explains

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If the problem with Petroleum Industry of Serbia, NIS, is resolved in the next month or two, industrial production, at least in the processing part, could return to last year's average, the president of the Council of Governors of the National Bank of Serbia (NBS), Ivan Nikolic, said today.

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"This is primarily a geopolitical issue and it is being resolved outside of our framework. The sooner it is resolved, the sooner we will return to normal flows," said Nikolic.

He told RTS that the industry as a whole is sending positive signals, that a better year is expected regarding electricity production, after an extremely dry 2024 (for hydropower), while relatively favorable trends continue in mining.

When it comes to the projected GDP growth, which for this year is about three percent, he pointed out that industry will not provide a significant contribution to it and that the main pillars of growth will be construction, trade and, if there are favorable weather conditions, agriculture.

"Inflation has been reduced to 2.7 percent and we have no problem there. The key challenge this year remains the industry," he said.

Nikolic noted that exports continue to grow faster than imports, which mitigates foreign trade risks.

(Telegraf Biznis/Tanjug)