Cooperation between the CBCG and the World Bank Commended

12/06/2018

The Governor of the Central Bank of Montenegro, Radoje Žugić and his associates met with the World Bank Country Manager for Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, Emmanuel Salinas today.

Governor Žugić informed the World Bank representatives about the current macroeconomic situation and the condition of the financial system. He pointed out that the positive trends from the previous year continued in this one as well, contributing to a faster recovery of the economy and strengthening of public finances.

As for the banking sector, growth of all key business indicators was recorded in 2018. The Governor emphasized that the vulnerabilities from the previous period were significantly reduced, first of all, referring to the continuous decline in the level of non-performing loans, as well as the strengthening of lending activities of banks, especially to the real sector.

The possible provision of the World Bank Second Policy-Based Guarantee (PBG2) to Montenegro, which could become operational in 2019, was also discussed at the meeting.

Appreciating the continuous support of the World Bank to our country, the Governor underlined that the CBCG will implement all activities under its competence and within the agreed deadlines, primarily relating to further strengthening of supervision, improvement of the regulatory framework, introduction of the European standards and implementation of best practices, and that, in this way, it will give full contribution to reaching an agreement on the budget support programme.

Saying that the World Bank is particularly satisfied with the cooperation with the CBCG, Mr Salinas pointed out that this institution made a significant contribution to the process of granting World Bank guarantees to Montenegro, primarily through its activities that contributed to the improvement of the stability and safety of the financial system.