Interviews with the Australia SBS Radio and the e-magazine Antoris

Skopje, 5 August 2020

Foreign currency remittances from emigrants and persons temporarily working abroad are important for the Macedonian economy. In addition to being a significant additional source of income for some households, which improves their standard of living, remittances also have a wider macroeconomic significance by increasing the foreign exchange potential of the economy. Remittances are an important source of funds in the current account of the balance of payments and contribute to maintaining a low current account deficit.

This was stated by the Governor of the National Bank, Anita Angelovska Bezhoska during the interviews with the Australia SBS Radio and the e-magazine Antoris.

In the interviews, the Governor referred to the amount of remittances over the past years, emphasizing that it is difficult to indicate the exact amount due to higher share of remittances in cash.

“According to our estimates, conducted according to the methodology harmonized with the IMF, the amount of these remittances, from 2009 onwards, exceeds Euro 1 billion per year i.e. about 16% of GDP, on an average.” – says Angelovska Bezhoska.

Regarding the expectations for this year, the Governor notes that, given the specificity of the global shock caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, one of the channels through which the crisis may be transmitted in the domestic economy are precisely remittances. She also referred to the National Bank forecasts, expecting a possible reduction of remittances this year, which is in line with the expectations and estimates of the World Bank for a reduction of private transfers globally.

Angelovska Bezhoska also referred to the channels through which emigrants and persons temporarily working abroad may send money to our country - standard interbank transfer and fast money transfer.

With the modernization of our regulation in the field of payment services and its harmonization with the European directives and regulation in this area, which I expect to happen soon, new modern forms for conducting payment transactions should emerge. To this end, we are working on finalizing the new Law on payment services and payment systems which will offer a stimulating regulatory framework for the emergence of new payment services, including this section. Specifically, the expectations that the use of electronic means of transfer of funds will increase, mostly in the form of payment applications offered by payment institutions and could have the opportunity to connect to bank accounts of the payers and receivers of funds located in different countries. In fact, such payment institutions already exist in the more developed countries of Europe.” - outlines the governor.

In the interviews, Angelovska Bezhoska reminds that the banking system in our country is harmonized with the security standards for SWIFT.

The SBS Radio interview is available on the SBS Radio website.

The interview for the e-magazine "Antoris" is available here. 

Photo: “The Economist”