Program for Financial Education Development in Montenegro 2023-2027 adopted
27/07/2022
The 59th meeting of the Financial Stability Council (FSC) chaired by Mr. Radoje Žugić, the Governor and the Council Chairman, was held today. The meeting was preceded by a meeting of the National Committee for Financial Education Development (NCFED), an interim working body of the Council comprised of the members of the Council (the Minister of Finance, the President of the Council of the Insurance Supervisory Agency, and the President of the Capital Market Authority), as well as the Minister of Education.
The FSC adopted the Program for the Financial Education Development in Montenegro 2023 - 2027 that had been initially drafted by the NCFED.
This is a document that represents a strategic framework for the financial education activities that are to be implemented by interested parties over the next five years. The program supports the aspirations of the Government and the Central Bank of Montenegro to provide the Montenegrin citizens with access to quality financial education, in order for them to acquire and/or improve knowledge and skills for making responsible financial decisions. The Program will be implemented through annual action plans, while the NCFED, as a special working body of the Council for Financial Stability, will be in charge of monitoring the Program implementation.
“The adoption of the Program for Financial Education Development is an important milestone towards more efficient, coordinated and result-oriented actions aimed at financial literacy, and the prerequisite for its successful implementation is dedicated work", said the members of the Council and invited all interested social actors to be part of this important agenda.
The FSC considered the Information on Financial Stability for the second quarter of 2022. Data presented in this document point to an extremely modest growth of economic activity in the euro area in the first quarter of the current year of a mere 0.5%, while international financial institutions, such as the IMF, expect a slowdown in global economic growth in 2022, which is a reflection of the events in Ukraine, rising inflation, and a new wave of the pandemic.
As for the economic trends in Montenegro, data on collective accommodation for the first five months of the current year shows the year-on-year increase in the number of tourist arrivals and the number of overnight stays of 156.2% and 179.3%, respectively. The uptrend of consumer price growth continued in the second quarter, resulting in the inflation rate of as much as 13.5% at the end of June.
With regard to fiscal developments, risks are still pronounced and their future impact remains uncertain due to the increasingly complex economic and geopolitical situation at the global level. Against such backdrop, any additional public spending without a fiscal impact analysis could jeopardise the sustainability of public finances, which would consequently affect stability of the overall financial system. Unfavourable trends on the international financial markets point to the need to look for ways to provide the lacking fiscal resources for the current year on the domestic market, but only up to a level that would not bring into peril lending to the real economy.
The banking sector trends also remained positive in the second quarter of this year. Banks` assets and capital recorded the annual increase, as did deposits (21.4%) and loans (6.8%). Also, the share of non-performing loans in total loans amounted to 6.3% at end-Q2 2022.
Preliminary data from the Insurance Supervision Agency indicate that the insurance sector recorded the year-on-year increase in gross invoiced premiums of 11.9% in the first six months of 2022.
The Council is of opinion that the systemic risk to financial stability can be characterized as moderate for now, with the presence of certain vulnerabilities that could intensify due to the complex economic and geopolitical situation. Therefore, the conclusion is that it is necessary to actively monitor the movements of the financial system stability indicators and, depending on the development of the situation, design and implement additional monetary, prudential, and fiscal measures aimed at risk reduction.