National Bank of Serbia holds bilateral talks with the National Bank of Austria on cooperation and regional economic conditions

The National Bank of Serbia published an account of a bilateral meeting between Governor Jorgovanka Tabaković and National Bank of Austria Governor Robert Holzmann, focused on central bank cooperation and the implications of current economic and geopolitical developments for policy. The meeting marked Holzmann’s first visit to the National Bank of Serbia and was attended by the Austrian Ambassador to Serbia and officials from both institutions. The update highlighted Austria’s role in Serbia’s economy and financial system, including foreign trade of about EUR 2.7 billion last year, two Austrian-owned banks representing close to 17.5% of the sector’s balance sheet total at the end of last year, and five insurance companies plus one reinsurance company in Serbia that are majority Austrian-owned. It also noted remittances from Austria accounted for about 9.5% of total remittances in 2024. Tabaković pointed to existing cooperation through IPA projects and cited National Bank of Austria assistance during the pandemic in addressing shortages of foreign cash. She also summarised Serbia’s recent macro-financial outcomes, including an investment-grade credit rating in October last year, inflation returning to the 3% ± 1.5 percentage point target range in May last year, a 0.1% strengthening of the dinar against the euro in 2024, record foreign exchange reserves of EUR 29.3 billion, gold reserves close to 49 tons, and record foreign direct investment of EUR 5.2 billion. The discussion also covered the National Bank of Serbia’s flexible monetary policy framework introduced in December 2012, use of repo operations to fine-tune liquidity, and the role of dinar-euro exchange-rate stability for monetary and financial stability.