The National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia Council discussed on several issues within its operating area on the session held today.

Skopje, 27 March 2008

Press release of the NBRM

The National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia Council discussed on several issues within its operating area on the session held today.

The Council discussed and adopted the Report on the management of the foreign reserves in 2007. It was stated that the foreign reserves of the Republic of Macedonia realized growth of Euro 107 million and reached the level of Euro 1,524 million in 2007. The purchase of foreign currencies in the foreign exchange market considerably influenced on the level of foreign reserves and it compensated the outflow of foreign currencies for the purpose of the early repayment of a share of the external debt of the Republic of Macedonia to the World Bank, the Paris Club of Creditors and IMF, which was performed in the previous year.

The National Bank placed the foreign reserves in instruments which are characteristic by high liquidity and safety and in the same time they enable realization of positive market yields. In the process of foreign reserves management, the National Bank continued to increase the investments in high quality securities. The net income from the placement of the foreign reserves amounted to Euro 46.3 million in 2007.

The Information on improvement of the Credit Registry of the National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia was discussed on the session of the National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia held today. The Credit Registry of the National Bank, which was established in 1998, represents data and information base on the credit exposure of banks and saving houses to legal entities and natural persons (residents and non-residents). The Credit Registry has two basic goals: improvement in the quality of the credit decisions of banks and saving houses and increase in the effectiveness of the supervisory function of the National Bank in the area of credit risk management. Considering these goals and the need of improved flow of information in the bank industry and in the supervision of the National Bank in conditions of higher credit activity of banks, the National Bank started activities for replacing the current Credit Registry, with a new improved one at the end of 2007. These activities are elements of the Stand-by Arrangement with IMF also, and they are planned to be finished by the end of August 2008. 

 This project envisages:

- significant improvement of the contents of the Credit Registry of the National Bank through broadening the type and the scope of data;

- decrease in the amount of single exposure reported (for legal entities - from Denar 500,000 to Denar 300,000 for the total credit exposure, and for natural persons - from Denar 150 thousands  to Denar 5,000 per credit);

- shortening of the deadlines for submitting and processing of data and

- shortening of the period of updating data from the Credit Registry (monthly update of data, relative to quarterly reporting practiced until now). 


The NBRM Council was informed on the economy developments on the session held today. The definite data on the balance of payments for 2007 showed that on the current account of the balance of payments, deficit of Euro 164 million was realized, or 3% of the realized GDP (opposite to the projection of 2.3%). Within the current account, the trade deficit reached up to 21.2% of GDP (and it was higher relative to the projection of 0.7 percentage point), whereas the private transfers which covered 84% of the trade deficit in 2007, amounted to 17.8% of GDP (which represented lower level relative to the projection of 0.9 percentage points). In March, the developments in the foreign exchange market were stable, and as of March 18, 2008 the gross foreign reserves amounted to Euro 1,529 million. The upward trend of the deposits and credits of the banking sector continued in February. Thus, in February 2008 the total deposits of the private sector with banks went up by 30.5%, with simultaneous further growth in the total bank credits to the private sector by 41.4%, relative to the same month of the previous year. After the last change in the reference interest rate of NBRM in the beginning of March, slight increase in the net liquidity withdrawal was realized on the auctions of CB bills. The National Bank, in accordance with its activities, continued to follow the effects from the measures undertaken for stabilization of the inflation expectations and depending on the received data on the further developments in the real and in the monetary sector, it will accommodate the measures and the instruments of the monetary policy.

Governor’s Office