the same period last year. at the same time, it was the key reason for the upward adjustment of the current account deficit share in gdp this year to somewhat over 9 %. in the medium run, expanded export capacities, along with the expected reduction of the negative impact of external demand and unfavourable terms of trade, should contribute to a gradual narrowing of the current account deficit and preservation of the country ’ s external sustainability. the continuation of a relatively high inflow of fdis to serbia will also contribute to external sustainability. the fdi inflow this year is projected to around eur 3. 4 bn ( or eur 3. 3 bn net ), which is close to expectations for the coming years as well. chart 12 current account structure chart 13 current account and fdi projection ( in eur mn ) ( in % of gdp ) 4, 000 2, 000 1, 970. 1 2, 468. 2 - 2, 000 754. 7 814. 8 - 573. 0 - 2, 590. 8 - 2, 676. 3 - 706. 9 - 4, 000 - 6, 000 - 5 - 10 - 4, 749. 6 secondary income, net primary income, net services goods current account deficit - 15 - 1, 209. 7 - 20 - 25 - 8, 000 h1 2021 h1 2022 sources : sors and nbs. sources : nbs. * nbs projection. 2022 * secondary income services current account 2023 * 2024 * primary income goods fdi it is important to emphasise that since mid - april, fdi inflow returned to the levels recorded before the outbreak of the ukraine conflict and that it exceeded eur 2 bn in the seven months of the year. as a result, from may until end - july, the nbs intervened in the ifem by buying eur 915 mn net, which reduced the amount of net sale from the beginning of the year until end - july to eur 1. 35 bn. the country's fx reserves went up to eur 15 bn at end - july ( from eur 14. 1 bn at end - april ), whereby we created an additional buffer that can be used in case of potential new crises such as these we have been facing in the past two yеаrs. i can share with you the information that positive movements in respect of our interventions on the fx purchase side and the con

occasion, i will present only some data that testify to the effects of geopolitical tensions on the global prices of energy and primary agricultural products and the magnitude of the energy crisis, of the kind not recorded since the 1970s. – in july this year, the average price of gas, which is the benchmark price for the european market, equalled over usd 1, 800 per 1, 000 m3 on average, which is a four times higher price than a year ago and 16 times higher compared to the average for 2020. – similarly, in july, in euro area countries ( austria and france ), the stock exchange price of electricity equalled eur 360 and eur 400 mwh on average and was by around four, i. e. five times higher than a year ago, while the global oil price, though declining since mid - june due to the build - up of recessionary pressures at the global level, measured usd 109 per barrel, up by over 46 % from a year ago. – measured by the fao index, since early 2022 the global prices of cereals have recorded two - digit growth, which stood at around 17 % in july. chart 4 world oil price movements chart 3 electricity, natural gas and thermal coal price movements ( end - of - month ) ( usd / ton ) ( eur / mwh ) ( end - of - month, in usd ) price of australian coal per tonne, ( lhs ) spot gas price for europe, ( rhs ) spot electricity price ( rhs ) - 25 sources : refinitiv and world bank. 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 sources : bloomberg. on the other hand, core inflation ( excluding the prices of food, energy, alcohol and cigarettes ), which is most affected by monetary policy measures, moved in line with our expectations from may. the rise in core inflation ( to 7. 5 % y - o - y in july ) was under the strongest impact of a further increase in euro area inflation, though it remained significantly lower than headline inflation and core inflation in countries of the region that pursue the same monetary policy regime. a strong brake to any major increase in core inflation came from the maintained relative stability of the exchange rate even in an environment of globally heightened uncertainty in the international financial market and the fact that medium - term inflation expectations of the financial sector have been kept within the target band of 3±1. 5 %. according to our estimate, demand