The European Central Bank (ECB), together with the banks of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and the European Commission, decided on Thursday to extend its two-year cooperation project with the National Bank of Serbia (NBS).
According to the NBS, all the expected results of the project started on February 1, 2011, have been reached and it will be extended until December 31, 2013, in order to keep improving the instutional capabilities of the NBS and support its efforts to prepare for membership in the ESCB once Serbia meets the requirements of joining the EU.
The project’s extension will be covered by the existing budget of EUR 2.5 million that the EU provided from the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance.
The project will help the NBS to prepare the strategies and internal procedures in accordance with the standards of the central banks inside the EU when it comes to bookkeeping, financial reporting and information technology. It will help improve the capabiities regarding model creation and the development of crisis management concerning financial stability.
The ECB will work on the extended project together with the central banks of Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, the Netherlands, Hungary, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia.
The starting stage of the project, which the ECB conducted with 21 central banks of the ESCB, included 11 different areas: supervision of the financial sector, harmonization of legislation, liberalization of capital flows, management of foreign exchange reserves, monetary operations, protection of the users of financial services, support in EU integration, economic analysis and research, statistics, payment system and financial stability.
Source Tanjug
