IMF commends Montenegro's progress
22/02/2018
The Governor of the Central Bank of Montenegro, Mr Radoje Žugić and his associates met today with the delegation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), headed by Mr Martin Petri, Head of the IMF Mission to Montenegro. The mission is visiting our country for the purpose of holding regular annual consultations under Article IV of the IMF Articles of Agreement.
The Governor informed the IMF representatives about the situation in the banking sector and the ongoing CBCG activities. The Governor stated that the financial stability has been significantly improved in the previous year, which can be confirmed by the key business indicators recorded in the previous year, primarily lending activity and deposits increase, maintaining the liquidity and solvency levels above the statutory minimum, as well as the more sound banks’ assets and the fact that banks are adequately capitalised. On the other hand, in 2017, the banking system experienced a downturn in interest rates as well as in non-performing loans and receivables, which showed a year-on-year decline of 21% at the end 2017, thus their current share in total loans amounts to 7.29%.
The Governor also informed the IMF representatives about the intensive regulatory activities of the CBCG carried out in the previous year with a view to aligning with the European Union directives and introducing the best practices.
Mr Petri commended the results achieved in the area of improvement of fiscal and financial stability and expressed his support of the CBCG activities aimed at maintaining the financial system stability, which have contributed to the strengthening of the economy along with the results of the fiscal consolidation. “There has been a significant improvement in the regulatory framework in the segment of financial system”, said Mr Petri, stating also that he sees the CBCG taking over the supervision of financial service providers as a positive move.
The IMF Mission will be staying in our country until 7 March, when the press conference is scheduled to present the Mission findings on the state of our economy and the outlook for upcoming period.