Skopje, 20 July 2023

In the process of accession to the European Union, central banks have significant role in ensuring compliance in areas under their authority, primarily in enabling monetary and financial stability.  This was pointed out at the meeting held at the National Bank between the Governor Anita Angelovska Bezhoska and the Governor of the Croatian National Bank, Boris Vujcic. At the meeting, the Governor Vujcic expressed further willingness to share Croatian experiences from the EU integration process with the National Bank, which even now, according to the assessment of the European institutions, is highly complied in the areas of its jurisdiction, especially in the banking system domain, as the basis for efficient distribution of funds in economy. This acknowledgment came from the European Commission in 2021 with the decision stating that our country has established a supervisory and regulatory framework for founding and operating of banks in accordance with the EU standards. The Committee of Experts of the Council of Europe on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (Moneyval) recently assessed that the licensing and supervision system of the National Bank meets the international standards for anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism. 

Croatian experiences in the pre-accession process towards the European Union, as a road map for the EU accession, as well as for fulfillment of the responsibilities afterwards, are of great importance for mapping out the operation of our central bank.  Hence, with its active participation in sectoral processes and national strategic documents for EU integration, the National Bank makes a significant contribution by undertaking activities in terms of harmonization of its operations with the European standards, within the areas they cover.

The meeting also discussed the stabilization of the inflation and its reduction to historically low rates.  This priority in the central banks’ operations, as a prerequisite for predictable and stable environment, will contribute to economic growth, opening new jobs and development.  On this topic, it was concluded that despite the evident slowdown of the inflation, the rates remain high and impose prudent macroeconomic policies.  Globally, in dealing with this inflationary episode, we are witnessing one of the most synchronized monetary policy tightening in the past half century, whereby the central banks’ reaction was twice as strong compared to the historical average, which contributed to slowdown of headline inflation.  The recent assessment of the IMF mission that visited our country emphasized that, as a result of the appropriate monetary policy, a slowdown in the inflation rate was already perceived.  The future inflationary trends in the economies in the region, as small and open, will depend on the durability and the size of the external shocks, primarily the movements in the commodity markets, structural characteristics and undertaken structural reforms to mitigate vulnerability, as well as on the prudent macroeconomic policies which will be crucial for further sustainable reduction of the inflation rate.

The meeting between the two Governors is a sign of traditionally good cooperation between the central banks, based on exchange of experiences on the issues related to dealing with monetary and financial stability challenges.