The National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia Council reviewed the Quarterly Report for the first quarter of 2005, the Monthly Report for April 2005, as well as the latest macroeconomic movements on the session held today.
Skopje, 30 June 2005
Press release of the NBRM
The National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia Council reviewed the Quarterly Report for the first quarter of 2005, the Monthly Report for April 2005, as well as the latest macroeconomic movements on the session held today.
The Council stated that in the first five months of 2005 the favorable movements on the foreign exchange market and the maintenance of stable Denar exchange rate relative to the Euro without interventions of the Central Bank contributed to maintenance of the price stability. The average rate of inflation in the January - May 2005 period equals 0%, thus abandoning the zone of negative increase in the inflation. The monetary policy was conducted in conditions of improved movements in the balance of payments and higher economic activity in the country. In conditions of continuing enlargement of the banks' deposit base, the total credits extended to the private sector in May 2005 registered an annual increase of 24.2%.
During the today's session, the National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia Council adopted new Rules for the manner and the procedure for trading and settlement of the transactions with securities on the OTC market. The basic changes in the new Rules enable concluding and settlement of transactions with securities on the OTC market and repo transactions. The National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia prepared General repo agreement, as unified legal framework for concluding repo transactions among market participants, according to which conclusion of repo agreements with all short-term securities is envisaged. Simultaneously, the new Rules also set the basis for the performing of the monetary operations through concluding repo transactions by the National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia.
In accordance with the activities aimed at supporting the development of the secondary securities market, as well as with the revitalization of the repo transactions, in future the National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia is planned to use securities as collateral more than foreign exchange when performing monetary operations. In than direction, the National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia Council adopted a Decision on cessation of the validity of the Decision on implementing foreign exchange swap transactions through auctions for regulating the banks' Denar liquidity.
Besides this, Information on the activities of the National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia pertaining to revitalization and improved efficiency on the interbank foreign exchange market was presented. Namely, in order to enable continuous development of the interbank foreign exchange market, since June 2005 the NBRM established an interbank information system for electronic trading with foreign exchange. Besides the concentration of the supply and the demand on one place, the electronic platform enables several advantages: larger transparency, more real market pricing, and hence, larger liquidity on the market. By widening the approach to the market information, faster and easier matching of the supply and demand is expected, as well as increase in the volume of trading on the interbank foreign exchange market.
The NBRM Council adopted the Report for the performed audit on the financial statements of the NBRM for 2004 prepared by the authorized auditors Ernst and Young - dooel - Skopje. The audit report will be published as an integral part of the Annual Report of the National Bank on the web site of the NBRM.
Governor's Office