---

06/09/2017

The Governor of the Central Bank of Montenegro, Mr Radoje Žugić, PhD, with his associates, met with the newly appointed World Bank Head for Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mr Emanuel Salinas.

Following the words of welcome and gratefulness for the cooperation and support in a number of fields provided by the World Bank, Governor Žugić presented to Mr. Salinas the basic macroeconomic indicators and the situation in the financial sector. "Performance of banks in Montenegro is characterized by an increase in lending activity and falling interest rates, which contributes to the strengthening of the real sector, while the share of non-performing loans is continuously decreasing, currently standing at 8.2%," said Governor Žugić. The focus of the CBCG is to strengthen the supervision of the banks in order to maintain and further strengthen these positive trends, while simultaneously implementing intensive activities in the area of improving the regulatory framework, in order to fully harmonize it with the EU standards and best banking practice.

Mr Salinas appreciated the progress that has been made in establishing and maintaining the stability of the financial system, especially pointing out a large decrease in the share of non-performing loans in total assets of banks, with Montenegro leading in terms of the region.

The new World Bank head for Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina stressed that he will, during his term, seek to provide even stronger support from the World Bank to Montenegro on the road to its further economic development through dedicated work, respect and mutual trust.