Academic plenary session warned on Saturday (January 10) that at the end of 2025 it will be annual inflation in Serbia it was about three percent, while in the Eurozone it was about two percent.
As stated in the analysis done by Professor Jovica Pejčić from the Faculty of Economics in Subotica, although that percentage is in line with the goals National Bank of Serbia, it is worrying that the prices of basic services and goods (energy, food, utilities) are growing faster than wages.
In the analysis, it is written that the price of electricity, transmission and distribution of energy in 2025 increased by 6,6 percent, and a new price increase was announced in 2026. It is also estimated that the increase in the price of electricity affects the increase in production costs, and thus the increase in all basic foodstuffs, as well as transportation and services.
"Therefore, it is not surprising that citizens have the impression that they are working more and more, while living the same or worse than before - this impression is not irrational, but a consequence of bad economic policy," the analysis states.
How big are the price increases?
According to the latest officially available data from the Ministry of Internal and Foreign Trade, in the eight months of 2025, the price of white bread rose by 5,7 percent, beef (without bones) by 16,7 percent, pork by 16,4 percent, oil by 8,4 percent, and milk chocolate by 17,7 percent.
The Academic Plenum notes a decline in the standards of Serbian citizens during 2025, but also the expected continuation of the weakening of citizens' purchasing power during 2026, because the increase in wages cannot keep up with the increase in the prices of basic foodstuffs.
"The Academic Plenum calls on the President of Serbia to immediately call for extraordinary parliamentary elections, in order to stop the further impoverishment of citizens and increase their standard of living with the new economic policy," the academic network stated.
Source: FoNet
