63rd Meeting of the Financial Stability Council
05/05/2023
Today, the Financial Stability Council held its 63rd meeting, chaired by Radoje Žugić, CBCG Governor and the Council Chairman. The Council members, Aleksandar Damjanović, Minister of Finance, and Željko Drinčić, President of the Capital Market Authority, attended the meeting.
The Council members discussed current macroeconomic indicators and trends at today’s session to analyse the situation and assess the country’s financial stability. Along with the industrial production and trade growth, the Q1 of the current year was also characterised by a significant tourism sector increase. Hence, the number of tourist arrivals in the first three months of 2023 was almost 62% higher compared year-on-year, while the growth in the number of overnight stays in the same period amounted to 46%. The annual CPI inflation rate was 10.5% in March 2023, showing a significant decrease compared to 17.2% in December 2022.
The banking sector recorded positive trends. Thus, bank assets, total approved loans, deposits, and capital recorded respective increases of 18.5%, 11.6%, 21.2% and 20.2% in Q1 this year. Non-performing loans amounted to 215.6 million euros at the end of March 2023 and accounted for 5.62% of total loans, 0.88 percentage points less compared year-on-year.
The Council concluded that financial stability is still preserved but that there are risks whose eventual materialisation would affect the intensification of existing ones and the emergence of new vulnerabilities, especially in the real sector, which can further affect the fiscal sphere and the banking sector.
Council members were introduced to the proposal of the national Fintech Strategy prepared by the consulting Fintech firm Vendavi from London, with the financial support of the European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), which will be sent to the Government of Montenegro for adoption.