Serbia exits recession

Belgrade, May 01, 2010 (Serbia Today) — Director of the Serbian Statistics Office Dragan Vukmirovic said today that Serbia has exited recession as its GDP in the first quarter of 2010 was higher by 1% compared to the same period in 2009. Speaking at a press conference, Vukmirovic said that this was the first GDP growth seen after a fall during four consecutive quarterly periods in 2009. The estimate of Serbia’s exit from recession is based on a flash estimate of quarterly GDP published by the Statistics Office for the first time today, he said. The main reason for introducing this methodology is to provide early estimates during a crisis, said Vukmirovic. The flash estimate was introduced in Europe because of the current economic crisis and is based on calculations over a period of 30 to 45 days after the end of a quarter, while a detailed GDP estimate is formed over 60 to 90 days after the end of a quarter, he explained. A recession is defined as two consecutive quarterly GDP falls but only one quarterly period of growth is enough to exit recession, he said. The depersonalized data from the first quarter of 2010 shows a 1.2% GDP growth compared to the last quarter of 2009, said Vukmirovic. Vukmirovic said the retail prices of goods and services in Serbia in April this year were higher by 1.1% compared to the previous month. Compared to the same month of 2009, the April price increased by 7.4%, he stated. The cost of living in Serbia in April 2010 month-on-month got higher by 0.6%, Vukmirovic added. In April 2010, compared to December 2009, the cost of living increased by 2.6%, he said. He explained that the difference between inflation and the cost of living is a result of various influences including rising prices of certain products. The Director of the Serbian Statistics Office said that industrial production in March 2010 was higher by 2.7% compared to the first three months of 2009. Compared to the 2009 average, production was higher by 2.4%. According to Vukmirovic, during January – March 2010, compared to the same period in 2009, industrial production grew by 2.8%