COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF SERBIA'S GDP DYNAMICS 2000-2024.

Abstract

Based on IMF data on GDP and GDP per capita in constant prices from 2000 to 2024, we calculated the average growth rates of the given indicators for Serbia and 16 former socialist countries in Europe. The basic finding is that, contrary to popular opinion, during the past part of this millennium, our country recorded solid economic results. The average growth of domestic GDP and GDP per capita was 3.3% and 4%, respectively, significantly higher than the unweighted average of all observed 17 economies (2.9% and 3.3%). True, better results than those achieved by most former socialist countries, which still have much higher levels of GDP per capita, can be largely explained by the lower base from which Serbia started, after isolation in the 1990s.

The projections of the National Bank of Serbia, the Government of the RS and the IMF indicate that in the next five years, the Serbian GDP will increase relatively quickly, bearing in mind the relatively solid projected rate of fixed investments, as a key generator of economic growth, and the expected maintenance of stability of the main macroeconomic indicators. Taken together, all these projections, as well as the results achieved in the past part of this century, indicate that our country, although it certainly does not record impressive economic results, has the basic prerequisites to continue with the favorable dynamics of improving the standard of living of its population.