Skopje, 22 April 2025 

At its latest meeting, the National Bank Council adopted the 2024 Annual Report. The Report emphasized the successful implementation of the central bank’s objectives, which was also confirmed by the most relevant international financial institutions, which is evident from the further inflation slowdown, the maintenance of the exchange rate stability and further strengthening of the financial stability.   Although the environment is still uncertain, the favorable trends in both inflation and foreign reserves enabled gradual normalization of the monetary policy.  Alongside the dealing with macroeconomic challenges, the National Bank has implemented numerous projects.

Globally, 2024 was marked with strong geopolitical tensions and transformations associated with digitalization and AI, which increased the uncertainty.  However, the global economy continues to recover, with the Macedonian economy recording a growth of 2.8%. The average inflation rate decelerated and reduced to 3.5% from 9.4% in the previous year, reflecting the more stable movements in the prices of food, energy and core inflation, as well as the effects of the appropriate monetary setup.  In accordance with the favorable inflation and foreign exchange market trends, the National Bank started with gradual monetary normalization.  The policy rate was cut on three occasions to 5.35%, with a decrease in interest rates on deposits, yet moderate.  In addition, the measures taken in the reserve requirement domain contributed to further strengthening of denarization and long-term savings. 

The Annual Report has also referred to the implementation of the Plan of Activities of the National Bank, and has concluded that during 2024, besides the regular work processes, the National Bank also worked on several projects that introduce changes to the operations such as increasing efficiency, quality, transparency and reliability, compliance with the new legal requirements, European regulations and international standards. 

One of the most important accomplishments in 2024 was the application for SEPA membership.  The National Bank has guided numerous activities for harmonization of the national regulation with the EU legislation, which enabled the admission of our country as the 39th member of SEPA on 6 March this year.  This is a significant step towards the EU and confirmation of the high regulatory requirements and standards for domestic financial institutions in executing payments. 

In order to provide the efficiency required in euro payments by joining SEPA, at today’s meeting the National Bank Council made additional amendments to the regulatory framework for cross-border payments.  These amendments, which shall apply as of 5 October this year, when the payment service providers will be able to join the SEPA payment systems for the first time, will enable significant liberalization of cross-border payments.  The National Bank has canceled the remaining obligations for submitting documentation when executing outflow and inflow cross-border payments.  At the same time, funds from abroad will be made available to the citizens’ and companies’ payment accounts immediately, no later than the following business day.  Documentation will be submitted for only small number of payments, which are legally restricted until the country’s entry into European Union, and they will be made available to the payee with a delay.  These amendments to the regulatory framework will increase the efficiency of the processes in the banking sector, thus creating conditions for faster and cheaper euro payments for citizens and companies. 

During the year, the National Bank intensively worked on number of activities aimed at modernization of the operations, further increase in the financial system resilience and support of the sustainable development.  The following activities stand out in particular:

−     Adopted amendments to the Law on the National Bank according to the IMF recommendations and the highest international practices;

−     Adopted macro prudential measures which further strengthened the banking sector resilience;

−     12 bylaws for bank resolution which were adopted in March 2025, with the new draft to the Banking Law, in accordance with the latest standards;

−     The Overview of green finance-statistical data on climate change was published for the first time;

−     Implementation of advanced framework for macro-stress testing of the banking system resilience to macroeconomic shocks, and development of a special framework for stress-testing of the climate risk impact on the banking system.

−     Within the membership in the International Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), National Bank experts participated in the preparation of the Guide on climate-related disclosure for central banks;

−     Preparation of the initial draft of the National Bank Sustainability policy;

−     In 2024, the National Bank enabled the citizens free, fast and easy access to the Credit Registry report, through the National Services Portal;

−     Introduction of the new web service for automated download of the exchange rate list;

−     Conclusion of the Memorandum of Cooperation with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), for the implementation of the Code for financing female entrepreneurs in our country;

−     For the first time, the National Bank has prepared the Guidelines for greater inclusion of persons with disabilities as consumers in the banking sector for banks;

−     Publishing the Brochure for the visually impaired, for financial education and informing them of their rights.

−     Enriching data sets with new financial accounts statistics and bringing forward the deadlines for disseminating and submitting of the international investment position (IIP) and monthly balance of payments (BP), according to the EU requirements.

The Report on the risks in the banking system in 2024, which was adopted at the meeting, indicates that the banking system in 2024 is stable, with stronger growth in deposits and loans, improved liquidity and solvency, as well as maintained good credit portfolio quality.  In 2024, the capital adequacy ratio reached levels which are the highest since 2006, and at the end of the year, it equaled 18.9%. Despite the positive trends, there is still a need for vigilant risk monitoring, especially due to the unstable geopolitical environment and possible external shocks.

The National Bank Council also discussed and adopted other materials in the field of National Bank operations.