Yesterday, the National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia (NBRM) and the Macedonian Banking Association (MBA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding in the area of financial education. As stated in the Memorandum, in the forthcoming period, the NBRM and the MBA will take joint actions to raise financial literacy and to promote and develop financial inclusion. The cooperation will also include activities to supply the public with more information on the banking services in the country.

As pointed out by Anita Angelovska Bezhoska, Governor of the NBRM and Kosta Mitrovski, President of the MBA at the signing ceremony of the memorandum, this cooperation will be aimed at raising awareness among the population about the need of financial education in the modern dynamic environment, in order to improve the skills and ability to make informed financial decisions. Moreover, raising the level of financial inclusion requires joint actions to provide better information to the public and greater accessibility to banking services, which would ensure extensive utilization of the advantages offered by the banking services, while building public awareness of the risks arising from the use of bank services, as an important aspect for the banks’ clients. In addition, the cooperation also includes enhanced coordination in the field of monitoring, education and possible application of financial innovations in the banking sector, which pose many challenges both for the regulators and the banks and clients.  

At the signing ceremony, the MBA also concluded MOUs in the field of financial education with the Ministry of Education and Science (MES), represented by the Minister Arber Ademi and the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Republic of Macedonia (SEC), represented by the President Nora Aliti. Within the cooperation defined by the memoranda, the MBA, the NBRM, the MES and the SEC will also jointly organize, for the first time in our country, the European Money Quiz - a European Banking Federation project intended for financial education of young population. Thus, the Republic of Macedonia is included in the second edition of this quiz whose main goal is financial education of students aged thirteen to fifteen. It is expected that more than forty thousand students from twenty-five European countries will participate in the quiz.

The European Money Quiz consists of two phases - the first includes national competitions in each country, and the second is the European final. The national competition in the Republic of Macedonia will be held on 27 March 2019, within the European Money Week. A team of the best two students will represent our country at the final to be held on 7 May 2019 in Brussels, Belgium. The organization of this event in our country will contribute to greater engagement of young population in the financial education and enrich their knowledge of finance.