Montenegrin Delegation Meets the IMF
26/10/2024
The Governor of the Central Bank of Montenegro (CBCG), Ms Irena Radović, and the Minister of Finance, Mr Novica Vuković, led the delegation of Montenegro at the regular International Monetary Fund and the World Bank annual meetings. They had several meetings with senior IMF officials – Deputy Managing Director Mr Bo Li, Director of the European Department Director, Mr Alfred Kammer, Executive Director of the Belgian-Dutch Constituency, Mr Paul Hilbers, and his alternate, Mr Luc Dresse, and head of the IMF mission for Montenegro Mr Srikant Seshadri. Mr Jeroen Clicq and Mr Marnix van Rij, who will take over the functions of Executive Director of the Constituency and his alternate on 1 November, also attended the meeting with the Belgian-Dutch Constituency management.
Governor Radović presented the condition of the current banking sector in Montenegro to the IMF representatives, highlighting banks’ resilience and stability during the current year. “Continuously improving its regulatory framework, the CBCG is strongly committed to modernising payment systems and aligning with European standards,” said Governor Radović. She thanked the IMF representatives for their strong support, especially highlighting the evaluation of the Transparency Code of Central Banks, previously requested by the CBCG to strengthen further transparency in management, implementation of policies and fulfilment of functions. They agreed that the cooperation with the IMF has helped the CBCG to take another step towards strengthening public trust and raising its responsibility towards citizens and all interested parties.
Minister Vuković announced that the Government of Montenegro and its international partners are continuously implementing necessary reforms and working to finance development projects. In the coming period, as he highlighted, the goal will be the long-term sustainability of public finance through further consolidation of macroeconomic stability, creating a favourable business environment, more substantial economic growth, and strengthening the potential of collecting budget revenues. He also presented the Ministry of Finance’s plan to implement the new Mid-Term Debt Management Strategy 2025-2027 by the end of this year, which is already being drafted based on the IMF experts’ guidelines and technical support. As he said, the strategy will focus on reducing the risk of refinancing and further equalising the maturity profile in the medium term. He also informed that the Ministry of Finance initiated and the Government consented to increase Montenegro’s quota in the IMF from 60.5 million to 90.8 million SDR. Minister Vuković thanked for the continuous technical IMF support to Montenegro in managing state enterprises, macroeconomic policy, income and consumption management, macroeconomic and financial statistics, analysis and debt management.
Later in the day, Governor Radović also spoke with the National Bank of Belgium Governor, Mr Pierre Wunsch, of current economic challenges and opportunities for improving cooperation between the central banks of Montenegro and Belgium. The governors exchanged views on economic stability, current policies and Montenegro’s financial integration into the European framework. They focused on the process of Montenegro’s joining the SEPA and continued efforts to harmonise with EU standards in financial services and capital control.
The Ministry of Finance’s team also met with Ms Era Dabla-Norirs, the Deputy Director of the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department (FAD), with whom the Ministry has intensive cooperation on improving the management of state-owned enterprises and strengthening the capacity to analyse and report on fiscal risks arising from the state-owned enterprises sector of.
During the third day of their stay in Washington, the Montenegrin delegation also attended the Annual Plenary Meeting, where Ms Kristalina Georgijeva, the IMF’s Managing Director, stated that the key future tasks are building fiscal reserves, investing in economic growth and fighting with global challenges. The IMF also warns of the risks of geopolitical fragmentation and proposes multilateral cooperation to reduce the costs of climate change and accelerate the transition to a green economy.
Central Bank of Montenegro
Ministry of Finance of the Government of Montenegro