"Every commercial bank can be fined at any time for working with NIS."
With this sentence, the President of the country, Aleksandar Vučić, explained secondary US sanctions that could hit the country. He added that "it is not a question of just one company, but of the whole of Serbia", as well as that he does not want "the banking system of Serbia to be destroyed".
However, Vučić mentioned a few days later that the government he leads decided to "take a risk", so the National Bank of Serbia will still continue cooperation with NIS and will not immediately cancel payment transactions with this predominantly Russian company, which is a request from Washington. Such was the situation on Monday before noon.
After these worrying words, a number of citizens rushed to the banks in order to get their money as soon as possible. Faster and better, they also converted dinars into euros, as the most stable currency in Europe. Those who live abroad and have money in Serbian banks started calling their relatives and friends en masse with one question: "Should we come to withdraw money from the bank?".
Increased demand for euros
"There has been an increase in the demand for euros in exchange offices," Borislav Brujić from the Association of Exchangers tells "Vreme". "There is enough of this currency in the exchange offices for now, we have ensured normal operations, so so far it has not happened that clients come without us having money to exchange for them."
Nova.rs journalists were unable to find euros in several places in Belgrade when they tried to buy them.
The National Bank of Serbia also announced the new exchange rate of the dinar, which shows that the local currency has weakened against the euro by 0,2 percent compared to the period of a month ago.
This is not a big drop, but it should be borne in mind that the drop of the dinar against the euro for the whole year was only 0,3 percent. The reason for this is that the NBS has been artificially strengthening the dinar against the European currency for years by order of the progressive regime through a political decision. In this way, they ensure that salaries in Serbia, at least statistically, are higher, as well as that Serbia's total indebtedness in relation to GDP is much lower than it actually is.
NBS: We use foreign exchange reserves to compensate for excess demand
The NBS issued a statement in which it was said that "the exchange rate of the dinar against the euro remains stable."
"During the last two weeks, there has been an increase in the demand for foreign currency on the domestic foreign exchange market, which is partly the result of usual seasonal movements, primarily in the sector of domestic companies, but to a more significant extent the result of increased demand for foreign currency by citizens after the publication of information regarding the NIS company," they said. "A large part of this demand by citizens is to a significant extent caused by certain inscriptions in the media and announcements on social networks that have no rational and realistic basis, and only contribute to intensifying panic among citizens despite the announcements of the NBS, which indicated that the stability of the financial system is not and will not be called into question."
In individual exchange offices, there was, they say, only a temporary shortage of euros due to the increased demand of citizens for this currency at those exchange offices, "which by no means means that there is any problem with regard to the supply of euros and other foreign currencies on the Serbian foreign exchange market."
"The NBS has all the mechanisms that allow it not to allow any stronger pressure on the exchange rate of the dinar against the euro, and it has proven this, both in previous periods of increased demand by citizens for foreign currency at the time of the COVID virus pandemic and the beginning of the Ukrainian crisis, as well as in the current circumstances, when it uses the previously accumulated foreign exchange reserves to compensate for the current excess of demand in relation to the supply and to avoid excessive fluctuations in the exchange rate," they add.
We have high salaries - and everything is expensive for us
The economic situation in Serbia is already too complicated. Average plata in August 2025 was 105.590 dinars, which is about 900 euros. This figure is not small and represents a significant increase compared to the period five years ago. Then, the average earnings are according to the data of the Republic Institute of Statistics, was only 60.926 dinars.
However, citizens do not need economists to understand that they cannot live better for this larger amount of money. Simply explained - in no other country in Europe, which has a similar economic development as Serbia, can you buy fewer goods and services for one hundred euros.
The artificial maintenance of a strong dinar allows the state to spread the impression of high salaries even when they are converted into euros, but also to create a story about the country's low indebtedness. In the case of a more realistic dinar exchange rate policy, Serbia's debt would be significantly higher in relation to GDP. Because by pumping the dinar, the GDP is artificially increased, as the dinar GDP is translated into GDP in euros at an overvalued exchange rate and artificially reduces its share in the GDP.
