Skopje, 29 March 2025

World Bank expressed satisfaction with the joining of our country to the Single European Payment Area (SEPA) and the efforts it put for attaining this goal. This membership will bring more benefits for the economy as a whole, but mostly for citizens and companies. For further benefits, it is important for the country to join the regional instant payments project led by the Central Bank of Italy and which is part of the European Union's Western Balkans Growth Plan.

This was emphasized at the meeting between the Governor of the National Bank, Anita Angelovska Bezhoska, the World Bank's Director for the Western Balkans, Xiaoqin Yu, and the Country Manager for North Macedonia and for Kosovo, Massimiliano Paolucci, which was also attended by Vice Governor Emilia Nacevska, the General Director for Supervision, Viktorija Gligorova, and the Sector Director of Monetary Policy, Research and Statistics, Sultanija Bojcheva Terzijan. At the meeting, the commitment of the National Bank and the institutions involved in the country was emphasized, which with the support of the World Bank experts, worked hard to accelerate the process of the country's integration into the EU payment infrastructure, through joining SEPA.

At the meeting, Governor Angelovska Bezhoska expressed gratitude for the continuous support that the World Bank provided us throughout the entire process, and thus effectively aligning the national regulations and practices with the EU and SEPA, which contributed our country to become the 39th member of SEPA.

At the meeting it was also discussed about further modernization of payment systems and further benefits for citizens, especially through joining the project implemented by the Central Bank of Italy, which is intended for all Western Balkan countries. The aim is to establish an instant payment system as a clone of the TIPS system operated by the European Central Bank (ECB). The system will enable instant execution of domestic payments at any time of the day throughout the year in each of the countries, as well as their mutual payments and payments with EU countries.

Over the past three decades, the World Bank has been a significant partner of the National Bank, providing technical assistance through several projects to further strengthen the country's and the central bank's capacities and to maintain macroeconomic stability. The World Bank supported the National Bank in preparing the three-year green finance plan, developing the macroprudential strategy and strengthening the systemic risk framework, as well as in drafting the bylaws for bank resolution.