Skopje, 1 November 2022
"Domestic saving is especially important for small low-income economies because savings depend on investments, and without investments that increase long-term growth potential, reaching higher income levels is impossible. One of the key reasons for the slower economic growth and slower convergence in the region in the decade before the pandemic is actually lower investments, amid lower domestic savings and reduced inflow of foreign capital", said the National Bank Governor, Anita Angelovska Bezhoska at the traditional event marking the World Savings Day – 31 October, hosted by the Macedonian Banking Association (MBA).
She also referred to the latest challenges that influence total saving in economies and its structure: "After a decade of low inflation and extremely low interest rates, this year the global environment has suddenly changed. Inflation has accelerated significantly reaching record high, and the response to this is a synchronized cycle of monetary policy tightening. This basically leads to a difficult access and a significantly higher price of foreign sources of financing, and on the other hand, it directs the attention to the domestic markets, that is, domestic savings".
Regarding the trends of saving in our country, Governor Angelovska Bezhoska pointed out that the pandemic caused by COVID-19, the energy crisis and the current war in Ukraine are shocks that inter alia had an unfavorable impact on saving. However, despite the protracted crisis, deposits are still growing this year, which is mainly due to the growth in the household sector. She also said that in the last period there are signs of increasing contribution of denar deposits and long-term deposits to the total household deposit growth. This shows that the National Bank’s measures to maintain stability and the targeted measures to support denarization have effects on savings. "The commercial banks' offer of new deposit products with more attractive interest rates and the maintained financial stability, have also contributed to such positive developments, which indicates a good banking sector capitalization, traditionally good liquidity position and reduced share of non-performing loans below the pre-pandemic level", said the governor.
In her address, Governor Angelovska Bezhoska also referred to the importance of financial education that commits the National Bank to strengthening financial literacy in the country for the sake of a proper understanding of financial concepts in times of increasing digitization and new financial services and reliable information when making financial decisions. For this purpose, the first national Strategy for Financial Education and Financial Inclusion was adopted, which is the basis for coordinated action of financial regulators and other stakeholders to increasing financial literacy as a factor that contributes to the stability of the existing and encourage new savings.
The Finance Minister, Fatmir Besimi, the MBA President, Maja Stevkova-Shterieva and the Director of the Deposit Insurance Fund, Amir Shabani, also addressed this event celebrating the World Savings Day.