The National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia Council held a session today, with several issues within its operating area being discussed at.
Skopje, 27 August 2008
Press release of the NBRM
The National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia Council held a session today, with several issues within its operating area being discussed at.
The Council adopted a Decision on the contents and the manner of functioning of the Credit Registry. This Decision encircles the last phase of the realization of the project for improvement of their current Credit Registry maintained with the National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia. The current credit Registry is improved in several areas. It will enable widening of the type and the scope of its data. Reporting on each credit is envisaged, opposite to the so-far summary reporting for all credits of an individual client. Besides the current ones, additional data are also provided, such as: the clients' currency structure of the indebtedness, the maturity of the indebtedness, the amount and the type of the interest rate, the amount of due claims, maximum number of day of overdue in the liabilities repayment, the manner of credit repayment (one-time or annuity repayment), the credit status (restructured, prolonged), harmonization of the foreign currency position of the client and the type and the value of collateral. The threshold of individual exposure reported by the banks is reduced from Denar 500,000 to Denar 300,000 for legal entities and from Denar 150,000 to Denar 5,000 for natural persons, while the thresholds of each exposure reported by the savings house is decreased from Denar 50,000 to Denar 5,000 for natural persons. The deadlines for submission and processing of data are significantly decreased, thus enabling more timely information for the Credit Registry users. The data in the improved Credit Registry will be reviewed monthly instead of, as practiced so far, on a quarterly basis. The accuracy of the data in the improved Credit Registry is in full responsibility of the banks and savings houses, which submit data to the National Bank.
On the today's session of the NBRM Council, the latest macroeconomic developments were presented within the Monthly Information 07/2008. The last data on the inflation in July point to slowing down of general level of consumer prices, with the annual inflation rate being equal to 9.5%, compared to 10.1% in June 2008. The largest portion, i.e. 71% of the registered inflation rate is due to the higher food prices. The slowing down of the core inflation rate from 3% to 2.8% is also positive signal. Within the economic activity domain, the industrial output registered intensive annual rise of 12.2%, while the main carrier of such rise is manufacturing industry. In the first five months of 2008, the widening of the current account deficit, mainly generated from the higher trade deficit, continued. The latest data on the export and the import for the first six months of 2008 point to faster dynamics of the annual growth of the import (36.6%), compared to the increase in the export (10.9%), thus showing further widening of the trade deficit. Within the banking sector, for the first time from the beginning of the year, in July the annual growth rate on Denar deposits intensified, increasing from 21% in June to 22% in July 2008, with the annual rise in the total deposits of the banks reaching 19.5% (18.7% in the preceding month). The banks credit activity in July continued to grow with slightly slower dynamics (annual rise of 41.9%, compared to 42.1% in the previous month).Within the banks' interest rate policy domain, in June 2008 for the first time since the beginning of the year, moderate increment in the lending interest rate of the banks is registered. Thus the average weighted interest rate on Denar loans for all maturities and sectors in June 2008 equals 9.7% (9.6% in the previous month), and the average weighted interest rate on Denar loans for all maturities and sectors went up by identical 0.1 percentage point and it equals 5.8%.
The Council reviewed the up-dated projection of the National Bank for the economic movements at the end of the year. On the basis of the so far trends and altered assumptions of the projection the following is expected: solid economic growth of at least 5.5%, continuation of the trend of inflation impediment, as well as significant increase on the current account deficit, primarily due to the worsen trade deficit and poor private transfers compared to the previous year. The deterioration on the current account is expected to be partially compensated by better movements on the capital and financial account, mainly due to the direct investments, that should lead to slight rise in the foreign reserves. However, these expectations remain to face with the following risks: movements of the prices of energy sources, metals and food on international markets, as well as some prices which are within the competence of regulatory bodies.
Governor's Office