dimitar bogov : macedonia ’ s needs analysis report concerning accession to the european system of central bank and the eurosystem address by mr dimitar bogov, governor of the national bank of the republic of macedonia, on the occasion of the closing of the ipa project “ needs analysis programme ” with the national bank of the republic of macedonia, skopje, 10 july 2013. * * * dear mr. asmusen, member of the executive board of the ecb dear mr. orav, eu ambassador to the republic of macedonia ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, media representatives, it is my great pleasure to inform you that today, at the meeting of the steering committee of the joint eu - funded project with the european central bank on the nbrm needs analysis in the process of its accession to the european system of central banks and the eurosystem, we adopted the final report, the needs analysis report. thus, i may conclude that the project, whose implementation took nine months, ended successfully. the success is primarily due to the commitment to the project and the good cooperation among all stakeholders over the past nine months. so, let me first express my gratitude to the ecb, with which we jointly initiated and organized this collaboration, to the national central banks of the european system of central banks and to their experts who participated and were directly involved in the implementation of the project, as well as to the eu delegation in our country for their support throughout the project duration and of course for providing financial assistance to ensure the implementation of the project. also i would like to stress the benefit for the nbrm from the extraordinary collaboration with the representatives of the ecb and of the national central banks of the eurosystem. considering the role of the central bank in the country's accession to the eu, the national bank of the republic of macedonia has initiated this project in order to prepare for future membership in the european system of central banks and the eurosystem. the road to the eu is a process that requires from us to build strong and effective institutions. this project has exactly that aim : strengthening the institutional capacity of the national bank and harmonization of the standards for the national central banks in the eu by means of revising the current legal framework, the adoption and implementation of new policies and practices and staff training. the implementation of european standards and best practices in the operations of the nbrm is not an end in itself. it will contribute to strengthening of the role of

, it led to a worldwide financial and economic crisis. another example was the widespread practice in cesse of borrowing in foreign currency, while repaying in domestic, with adverse implications for households when currencies appreciated. in some countries, individuals undertook investment risk as well, by investing in high - risk, structured products, that they did not understand. financial illiteracy was even a trigger for irrational exuberance, with deposit withdrawal occurring on the backdrop of ungrounded causes in some countries. therefore, we do see now financial literacy and inclusion high on the global agenda. thus, in 2010, global partnership for financial inclusion ( gpfi ) was established reflecting concerted global efforts that do not solely reflect the need to elevate financial education and literacy to safeguard financial stability. much more, they are reflection of the understanding that inclusion can help to address poverty and shared prosperity by smoothing household incomes, reducing vulnerability to shocks, enhancing investments in education and health, and encouraging the growth of businesses. in fact, this is why financial inclusion is linked to at least eight of the united nations ’ 17 sustainable development goals. global efforts yielded up global improvement. leveraging on different data sources and the latest 1 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches conclusions of the global partnership, several takeaways can be pinpointed. there is a rise in the financial inclusion. globally, the share of adults holding an account at a financial institution or through a mobile money service over the years has significantly increased from 51 % to 69 %. in low - income economies, there are twice as many mobile money accounts than bank accounts per 1, 000 adults. ( imf financial access survey ). yet disparities remain. despite this progress, 1. 7 billion adults remain unbanked and inequalities persist. women in developing countries remain 9 percentage points and globally, by 4 percentage points less likely to have an account than men. small and medium - sized businesses are mostly excluded from formal borrowing, despite increasingly having an account at a financial service provider. in the local context, observing our own inclusion profile, the data indicate visible improvement over the years, yet significant gaps towards, for instance, the euro area as an anchor, are still visible. the percentage of adults holding an account rose ( between 2011 and 2017 ) to 77 %, but it is still well below the euro area average of 95 %. the percentage of adults making online payments equals 20 %, compared to 71 % in the euro area