Tectonic disruptions occur in the functioning of the household budget of an ordinary person in Serbia who these days listens to the most powerful fellow citizen - state president Aleksandar Vučić.
He has been banging his head for the third or fourth week, sweating in front of the cameras and nervously wiping his glasses because the extras, as they are called, of America's secondary sanctions against the NIS can "destroy the entire banking system of Serbia". He says that the National Bank of Serbia works day by day at "its own risk", and that it is "not a matter of just one company, but of the whole country".
At a similar time, all private banks where we get paid, keep money and pay loans, stop advertising. They refuse to answer the most important journalistic question - did you continue to do business with NIS? Because if the Americans introduce these secondary sanctions overnight, these banks will have it up because they are threatened with a complete collapse. Although they are silent, it is clear that some are still working with the Russians.
Psycho mix
Of course, all this will make people crazy. Everything they have is in those banks, and even when they hear that the dinar could plummet and that their salaries won't be worth a penny... This psychotic mix - representatives of the regime who create apocalyptic scenarios, give some imaginary deadlines, grab their heads before instilling hope, with banks that wrap themselves in a veil of silence with all our money - creates psychosis and panic in people.
Who should they rely on? On the idea of a big and strong state, which will protect them if all theirs self-destructs among private individuals? Or to private capital, which does not provide any answers to its clients?
Of course, the reason of individuals also went under sanctions.
We can change the regime, we don't have to change the bank
People should not worry about at least one thing. The citizens of Serbia have already decided to change the regime, more than ever before. It's only a matter of time, and the smell of victory is already felt.
But they certainly don't need a bank. It is clear that foreign capital will not take risks. All bank subsidiaries in Serbia received clear instructions from their headquarters abroad to immediately withdraw from any dealings with NIS before they could be hit by secondary sanctions. Of course, foreign capital will not take "Vučić's risk", the only question is why they do not communicate with their clients that way.
The fact that banks will work with NIS until the last moment only shows how forced foreigners are to do business in Serbia with a semi-state company. Many gave her loans, on fairly favorable terms, so now they are trying to recover at least part of it, in case the company collapses. So, it is their money, not directly ours.
If the state really wants people to stop panicking and chasing euros around the exchange offices, it must stop the pre-war election campaign and be responsible and honest for once. Tell the people openly - what is the deadline for the new wave of sanctions? Does he even exist?
