The crises of the past few years, such as the pandemic, the energy crisis and geopolitical tensions, have been a real test for central banks. These crises caused a strong inflationary change in the world framework, unseen in the past thirty years. Also, economies with a stable domestic currency exchange rate strategy, like ours, have also faced great pressures to maintain domestic currency stability. However, from the end of 2022, more favorable trends can be observed in both inflation and the foreign exchange market.
Thus, the average inflation in the Western Balkans region from 16% in October 2022 in the first quarter of this year has decreased to around 3.5%. In our country too, there was a significant slowdown in inflationary trends, and the stability of the exchange rate was maintained, while the level of foreign exchange reserves was increased by 40% compared to the pre-pandemic period. However, caution is required, said National Bank Governor Anita Angelovska-Bezhoska at the 11th Regional Summit of Governors, Ministers of Finance and Directors of Tax Administration, Financial Stability During Low Economic Growth in the Eurozone held in Montenegro.