Meeting of the Advisory Board of the CBCG
20/12/2019
A meeting of the Advisory Board of the Central Bank of Montenegro (CBCG) was held today, chaired by Mr. Asim Telaćević. The members of the CBCG Council also attended the Advisory Board meeting.
The main topic of today's meeting was the Recommendations to the Government of Montenegro for the Pursuit of the Economic Policy by the CBCG, in order to contribute to stimulating growth potential and improve the overall stability of the system.
At the beginning of the meeting, Governor Žugić presented the basic elements of the prepared Recommendations to the Committee members, emphasizing that they are aimed at stimulating economic development and, ultimately, improving the living standards of Montenegro’s citizens. Moreover, the Recommendations address the vulnerabilities present in certain segments of the economy and provide suggestions for their remediation.
The Committee members agreed that the economic policy of the Government in the coming year should primarily focus on improving competitiveness and productivity, expanding its economic base, fostering balanced regional development, reducing business barriers, and implementing structural reforms. It was emphasized that special attention should be paid to the fostering industrial production, as a basic source of value creation. The need to continue the fiscal consolidation process with a view to reducing the budget deficit and public debt was particularly noted, and this will further strengthen the sustainability of public finances.
Taking into account the negative demographic trends to which Montenegro and the rest of the region are exposed, the need to provide stronger support to education, both academic and professional, was emphasized. This is since education, in the long run, improves the competitiveness of human resources, and thus of the economy. The members of the Advisory Board also agreed that deeper and multi-layered analyses were needed in the field of statistics to help policy makers identify the real causes of certain weaknesses in the system and to define adequate measures to overcome them.
The Advisory Board is an advisory body to the CBCG, and its members are distinguished professors and former governors from the region, as well as former members of the CBCG Council.