this is indicated by our nowcast model, allowing us to download and process around 30 thousand prices of goods and services from around 130 websites in real time. in the nowcast model, we are also developing ai - based techniques. in the remainder of the year, we expect a further slowdown in inflation, so that in the course of the next year it should move around the target midpoint of 3 %. in q1, economic activity picked up to 4. 7 % y - o - y, with the annual growth anticipated at 3. 5 %. as early as the next year, economic growth is expected to speed up to 4 – 5 %, underpinned by the implementation of investments within the programme " leap into the future – serbia expo 2027 ", reduced global inflationary pressures and more favourable financing conditions. 2 / 5 bis - central bankers'speeches a sound business environment, adequate policies and a modern regulatory framework helped preserve high capital adequacy of banks, liquidity ratios at double the minimum levels and npl ratio at around 3 %. thanks to a favourable general economic situation in the country, a considerable number of banks expects an over 5 % rise in household and corporate lending this and the next year, as reported in our latest bank lending survey. all of this confirms that macroeconomic conditions in serbia will remain conducive to both economic growth and further development of financial services. opportunities and challenges speaking of opportunities and challenges, there is no doubt that digital transformation is changing every line of business. it saves time as the most precious resource and frees human resources to work on more complex tasks. according to the last year's study of 600 companies across the globe, 64 % believe that the use of artificial intelligence will increase their productivity, while 40 % express concerns regarding dependence on technology. according to another study, the banking industry is expected to experience large positive effects from digital transformation in the amount of around 9 % to 15 % of operating profit. apart from automation of routine tasks and processes, digital transformation also enables advanced analytics, higher quality personalised services, as well as higher quality risk management. at the same time, users have de facto got a service that works 24 hours a day, seven days a week. therefore, opportunities are huge, but the challenges are not few. these include cyber security, risk outsourcing or different forms of the so - called phishing. we, the policymakers, are aware that the qualitative technological

progress we are currently witnessing will also engender huge labour market shifts. the need for workforce with specific competences is growing, while the demand for some jobs is scaling down, and that is something we as the regulator and you as employers must work on together with the education sector. the burden shouldered by the regulator seems much heavier today than before, because not only do we have to ensure stability, but we have to do it almost on the fly. you, as the representatives of companies and banking industry, must consider investment in technologies from both medium - and long - term perspective. cooperation between public and private sectors in this area is particularly important, and so are personal examples. serbia's position in the digital financial revolution the nbs decided to head economic and social transformation without ever neglecting system security and stability. implementing a mix of modern regulations and innovative solutions, the nbs has been at the forefront of financial infrastructure strengthening and financial service digitalisation for an entire decade. adopting the law on payment services in 2014 and amending it in 2018, we created conditions for the introduction of modern payment methods and for modernisation of payment transactions. some of the crucial advantages of the adoption and improvement of this law are : 3 / 5 bis - central bankers'speeches the development of new and innovative payment models and services, and, hence, faster, easier and cheaper payment services ; greater payment security ; increased competition ; greater payment services transparency. the creation and development of the nbs ips system significantly contributed to the rise in cashless transactions, and hence to greater financial inclusion, curbing of the grey economy, and economic progress of serbia. the data on the use of services we enabled confirm that we readily opt for easier, faster and cheaper services : the number of transactions carried out in our nbs ips system increased from around 7 million in 2019 to around 67 million in 2023! in 2024, around 6. 5 million payments were made on average on a monthly basis in the nbs ips system. the settlement of household and corporate monthly liabilities by means of an ips qr code is a major leap in the improvement of the digitalisation of payment services, as testified by the data that over 14 million bills were paid scanning this code in 2023. the transfer service, that is, a fast transfer of money using the mobile phone number of the payee, is currently offered by 11 banks, and 2. 5 million users have access to this service. currently,