July 23 (SeeNews) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has confirmed its forecast for Serbia's 2019 economic expansion at 3.5%, as it expects gross domestic product (GDP) growth to pick up in the second half of the year, the IMF resident representative in Serbia said.
"Some of the factors that caused the deceleration in the first quarter were temporary, for example the overhauls that caused the shutdown of plants in the power generation sector," Sebastian Sosa said in a video file published by news agency Tanjug on Monday.
The data about the first quarter of 2019 was affected by the base effect of the first three months of last year, when economic growth was abnormally high, Sosa said.
"For the second half of the year, we expect these factors to dissipate and we are envisaging a pick-up in domestic demand."
In May, Serbia's statistical office said the country's GDP grew by a real 2.5% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2019. On a quarterly comparison basis, Serbia's economy expanded by 0.3% in the first quarter of 2019.
"We are going to revise our macroeconomic projections once we see the flash estimate for the GDP in the second quarter in Serbia, but also in the key trading partners," Sosa said.
In April, the IMF said Serbia's economy will grow by 3.5% in 2019. In 2020, Serbia's GDP is expected to grow by 4.0%, IMF said in the April edition of its World Economic Outlook (WEO) report.