The Serbian government pointed to good economic news at a press conference held Aug. 9, with President Aleksandar Vucic noting a recent decrease in inflation that could reach single digits by the end of the year.
“Inflation could be less than 9 percent by the end of the year,” he said.
Much like other regional citizens, Serbs have suffered under inflation in the 13-14 percent range and likely higher when it comes to non-essential goods. Vucic, however, noted that it is already falling and will soon ring in at 12.5 percent.
He, alongside Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, also pointed to Serbia’s quick pace on autonomous vehicles, as well as ambitious infrastructure plans to ready for EXPO 2027, which will come to approximately EUR 12 bln in projects, with these assumed to be primarily real estate and infrastructure, by the end of 2026.
With regard to autonomous vehicles, however, Brnabic may have surprised some onlookers by stating that a license for a Serbian driverless vehicle had already been given in Serbia. This raised eyebrows among some journalists—and also generated questions in the press—as it is understood that such vehicles need widespread 5G coverage, which is still lacking in Serbia.
One site that questioned the license was ekapija.com, which noted that while the license has been issued, there are no autonomous vehicles in Serbia at this time. A second site, NI, noted that the license was issued for a level 3 vehicle, which indicates that the license is for testing only.
Photo of Prime Minister Ana Brnabic by Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, Republic of Serbia, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.
