Meeting held with the IMF representatives

27/02/2019

The Minister of Finance Darko Radunović and the Governor of the Central Bank Radoje Žugić met with the International Monetary Fund team, led by the new head of mission to Montenegro, Srikant Seshadri.

Recent positive macroeconomic developments were noted, in particular the achievement of an economic growth rate likely exceeding 4 percent in 2018 for a second consecutive year.  

The IMF  team noted the Government of Montenegro’s persistence in the implementation of difficult fiscal consolidation measures, which have yielded positive results thus far. They encouraged continued implementation of the fiscal strategy to preserve the achieved results and further improve public finances.   

Minister Radunović reaffirmed the intent of the Government to continue to adhere to the fiscal consolidation measures and expressed expectations that such plan, with other activities of the Ministry of Finance, will contribute to further strengthening of public finances stability and the economic growth dynamism.

Governor Žugić notified the IMF representatives of the recent indicators in operation of 13 commercial banks in Montenegro.  In the period from introduction of the interim administration in two banks (7 December 2018) until today, total deposits were increased by more than 91 million euro, while liquid assets grew by 28.5 million euro. “Such trends confirm that the stability and safety of the banking sector was preserved”, was stressed by Žugić.

The technical assistance the IMF is providing to Montenegro was also discussed during the meeting. Participants discussed ongoing programs in a range of areas including tax policies and administration, public private partnerships, debt management, and bank supervision. They also discussed avenues to expand future areas of cooperation. 

The Government of Montenegro will continue discussions with the IMF mission in the context of the next regular annual consultation under Article IV, currently anticipated in June.