Student List's Šoškić: Dinar Stays Fixed, No Nationalisation of NIS

The Student List will not change Serbia's exchange-rate regime, Dejan Šoškić, a former governor of the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) elected to parliament on the list, said on RTS's programme Oko on the evening of Monday, 9 November. His remarks, reported by Danas, Tanjug and FoNet, were the clearest signal yet of how the incoming majority plans to handle the dinar, the oil company NIS and the fallout from the Alta Banka collapse.

What it means for the dinar

Šoškić said the rate "will be fixed" and argued that Serbia has enough foreign-exchange reserves and monetary tools to keep it that way, adding that keeping a stable rate is a matter of commitment. Formally, the NBS runs a managed float, but in practice the dinar has barely moved against the euro for years.

Earlier the same day the NBS said the dinar was stable, that its value against the euro had changed by only 0.3% since the start of 2026, and that it had sufficient reserves and would use all available instruments. The bank also said Poštanska Štedionica, the state bank paying out Alta's insured depositors, had worked normally over the weekend and that it was monitoring it closely. On Tuesday, 10 November, the official middle rate was set at 117.6305 dinars per euro.

NIS: talks, not nationalisation

On NIS, which is majority Russian-owned and under US sanctions, Šoškić listed three options: using Serbia's pre-emption right, negotiating directly with the Russian owner, or nationalisation. He said he favoured the first two and rejected nationalisation because it would send a bad signal to foreign investors, adding that any deal must be agreed with the US administration so the refinery can keep working.

Alta Banka and the NBS

Šoškić said Alta's failure could have been prevented had the NBS acted in time, pointing to the bank's report that more than 20% of its assets were held in cash. He said the central bank had supervisory tools it did not use fully and that the head of bank supervision and senior management should be investigated first. The reports available on Tuesday morning did not include a response from the NBS to these remarks.