From the interview with TV21

Skopje, 3 April 2020 

We expect the financial conditions to ease for both households and businesses. That was the purpose of the amendments made to the banking regulations. We have previously conducted detailed analyzes to reach a solution that will simultaneously help households and businesses and maintain financial stability. We expect banks to incorporate the possibilities provided by the regulatory amendments. This was stated by Governor Anita Angelovska Bezhoska in yesterday's show Click Plus on TV21. She pointed out that the National Bank has been monitoring and analyzing the offers for changing the loan agreement terms published these days.

In the interview, Angelovska Bezhoska also referred to credit growth, which in the first two months of this year was solid and amounted to about 7%, mostly pronounced in households with a growth rate of about 11%. Deposits also continued to grow, averaging about 8%. "Hence, the developments have so far been solid, and the challenge is yet to come. We have all been facing a great shock that is uneconomical, but can have severe effects on the economy. With this in mind, it is realistic to expect a slowdown in lending, and consequently in the deposit activity in the period ahead", said the governor. 

The National Bank, as said in the interview, has already been working on a new cycle of macroeconomic forecasts. Angelovska Bezhoska said that the latest available data, against a background of uncertainty created by the global corona crisis, show that there will be a major revision of previous economic expectations for this year, including the forecasts for economic growth. As she said, international financial institutions have already announced their expectations for significant slowdown in economic activity globally, including in the European Union, and thus in the German economy where much of our exports are concentrated.

The governor stressed that the latest external debt data also indicate that we are among the moderately indebted countries. "Only one of the standard international indicators shows an exceeding of the moderate level of indebtedness, while all other indicators show that our external debt is in the safe zone of low to moderate level of indebtedness. As of the end of 2019, total external debt was 72.2% of GDP, which is lower than the average of the last two or three years when it ranged around 74% of GDP", she said. 

In the interview, Angelovska Bezhoska also sent a message: "We all desire the environment to be different and to deal with structural issues and reforms, to struggle to increase household income... But unfortunately, the corona crisis creates many challenges. There is no escape from reality and we as a central bank are ready to respond appropriately to the challenges.