“During the previous year, the National Bank very quickly led to the fact that everyone in Serbia knows that they have a secure foothold in it.”
This is what the governor of the National Bank of Serbia, Jorgovanka Tabaković, says for RTS.
She adds that they maintained the course in the range of 117.50 – 117.60 throughout the previous year.
She points out that Serbia has 35.65 tons of gold in its foreign exchange reserves, which guarantees security to the state, but also to everyone who wants to work with the state.
She also says that in the most difficult year, foreign direct investments amounted to 2.9 billion euros.
“We turned a deaf ear to those stories, let go of the fiscal deficit, don’t look at the amount of debt, just help the economy. We managed to save jobs, primarily for people whose lives are more valuable than everything, but whose lives need stability and security. We have shown that we can survive even in the most difficult times,” Tabakovic points out.
She says that the results of the National Bank were achieved with the help of the President and the Government of Serbia.
She reminds that at the beginning of the crisis, the National Bank provided liquidity to the state and the economy, but also to banks as the first and last refuge.
“All the time, we took care not to endanger either price stability or inflation. During the year, we very quickly led to everyone knowing that they have a secure foothold in the National Bank in Serbia,” Tabakovic states.
She says that for the third moratorium they had enough time to agree with the banks to assess the risk, and for the National Bank to provide a six-month grace period through regulatory measures in which it will assess for each of the debtors how far it can continue to repay crisis.
Jorgovanka Tabakovic says that the National Bank of Serbia has invested one billion and 450 million euros for a stable exchange rate.
“I especially want to point out, in November and December, we had 285 million euro purchases due to the re-arrival of investors in Serbia. We sold a billion and 450 million net and kept the exhchange rate almost at the same level,” Tabakovic points out.
She says that in 2019, for the sake of comparison, the National Bank bought two billion and 700 million euros so that the dinar would not strengthen too much, and thus saved reserves so that it could intervene this year.
“Let me remind you, from 2017 to the end of 2019, we bought over five billion and 300 million euros, and that is why we had something to provide and deliver stability to the citizens,” says Tabakovic.
She states that the public debt is 56.7 and 57.8 – safely below 60 percent.
“One of the expensive Azerbaijani debts with an interest rate of four percent has been repaid. When you say the state has borrowed, I will always remind – in relation to the gross domestic product that allows that level to be far below the Maastricht criteria, when we did not look at those who always do what suits us as a state,” said Jorgovanka Tabakovic, B92 reports.
