Average inflation in Serbia

Measures the change in the price of a representative basket of goods and services bought by Serbian households. It is published by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (SORS) and is the country's main gauge of inflation.

Compiled from a regular price survey across a wide sample of outlets, weighting each item by its share in household spending on an index with a base year of 100. Average annual inflation averages the year's year-on-year changes.

Prices drive consumption, savings and purchasing power, and are the key reference for the National Bank of Serbia (NBS), which pursues an inflation target. A reading above the target tends to point to rate rises and supports the dinar.

It measures only the defined basket, not the whole economy, and one-off factors such as energy or food can distort it. For the underlying trend, core inflation, which excludes energy and unprocessed food, is watched.