Credible domestic frameworks for implementing monetary policy – with an operationally independent and accountable central bank at their core – have generally delivered inflation rates that are both lower and less variable. 7 This directly benefits all citizens in good times. Moreover, greater monetary policy credibility gives a central bank more scope to respond to shocks, and enables financial markets to anticipate better the path for monetary policy, thereby providing a stabilising force during bad times. During the taper tantrum, those economies with betteranchored inflation expectations were able to keep monetary policy relatively more accommodative. 8    Flexible exchange rates. A flexible exchange rate acts as a valuable shock absorber for an economy because domestic wages and prices are relatively “sticky” (in other words, slow to adjust). For example, suppose there is a spike in global risk aversion. As capital flows are withdrawn flexible exchange rates depreciate. In general, this boosts an economy’s competitiveness. However, where economies borrow heavily in foreign currency, and this exposure is unhedged, depreciations can be detrimental for the economy. 9    Fiscal sustainability. A sustainable fiscal position provides governments with more room to respond to adverse shocks to demand. Financial markets therefore reward more sustainable fiscal positions: the IMF found that declines in inflows between 2010 and 2015 were 1 percentage points of GDP larger for countries with above-average public debt ratios.10 Fiscal sustainability is also necessary for a credible nominal anchor. 6  Fischer, S (1988), International Macroeconomic Policy Coordination, in International Economic Cooperation, ed.

First, in our country the women employment rate declined by 1.2 percentage points, while the men employment rate fell less than 1 percentage point, thus further widening the already wide gender gap of 18 percentage points, much higher than in the European Union. That data show that only 38% of the women work, which is significantly lower than the employment rate of men (56%). When we look at the unemployment rate, we see similar developments. Initially unemployment rate increased more for women than for men. Then, as a result of policy support measures, the unemployment rate gradually went back to the pre-crisis level in 2019. However, the adjustment in the unemployment rate is largely related to the increased exit of females from the labor force, illustrated with the fall of their labor force 1/3  BIS central bankers' speeches  participation rate. Of course, this is not the case just in our country. It is a global phenomenon. It is a case in the whole Western Balkan region. For example, participation rate in the region on average declined by 1.5 percentage points to 51%, which is the lowest level since 2016, with a higher drop again for women than for men. Thus the female participation in the Western Balkan region fell to 41%, which means that only 41% of the working age women are part of the labor force in comparison to the 63% of men, although with large variations, from 52% of women participating in Albania, to 22% of women participating in Kosovo.