disabled. by the end of the year, our buildings, most notably the one in the slavija square, will be accessible to everybody. in addition to this, the national bank of serbia organizes visits for the disabled to the money museum in our head office building ( 12 kralja petra street ). therefore, i would like to use this opportunity to invite all of the people present here to give us a call and set up the time and date of their visit – and we are ready to cover a part of the costs involved. today ’ s conference is an opportunity for me and my colleagues to acquire some specific knowledge and to hear about the experience of other people in this area, which will hopefully help us all in performing our public functions better. in terms of hiring disabled persons, as the governor of the national bank of serbia, which is an institution of public significance, i can only say that i see no reason for waiting for the adoption of the law on the employment of the disabled. i am deeply convinced that public institutions should take the lead in this respect and set an example for the private businesses. the nbs will resort to affirmative action in its staff recruitment so as to give the disabled a chance to become equal members of the society, which they will never become without jobs or stable income. and now let us look at the socially responsible practices of the nbs : this year, the national bank will give three scholarships to final year students, who will be obligated to work for the nbs once they complete their studies. more information on this will be available on our website. once the adaptation of our office buildings is completed, we will be able to increase the number of students doing their summer practice program in the nbs by five students with disabilities. finally, i would like to invite all the interested participants to gather again in september to exchange ideas and consult on the drafting of a public strategy on the employment of people with disabilities. and all of this for one single reason – to make our serbia more beautiful and its people happier.

, the main issue is not what the dinar exchange rate will be, but whether we ourselves are spurring inflation on by excessive domestic consumption. 4. monetary policy at present, there is barely any room for tightening the monetary policy, primarily due to the fact that it is already extremely restrictive, which has been arrived at through measures implemented in august this year : • increase of banks ’ required reserves rate from 18 % to 21 % • increase of interest rates, and • changed method of calculating required reserves. as regards a possible relaxation of the policy, it will depend primarily on the budget deficit realized until the end of the year, as well as by the wages policy of the government. in such a situation, with room for further tightening of the monetary policy is restricted, a still more responsible policy of the rs government is required for the implementation of the economic programme as agreed with the international monetary fund. this can be achieved through : • restrictive fiscal policy, directed at limiting public consumption and incomes • increase of the efficiency of public companies, primarily through a. accelerated separation of core from ancillary activities b. privatization c. reduction of the number of employees. • privatization of the real sector and the banks • privatization of large public companies in the process of restructuring. 5. foreign exchange reserves foreign exchange reserves remain stable at usd 3. 76 billion. in the course of 2004, there occurred an increase of as much as usd 218 million, although this was partly due to euro / dollar exchange differentials. when it comes to dealers, ending with this week, the nbs will have purchased a total of approximately usd 1. 42 billion, which is equal to the amount purchased from dealers in the course of the entire 2003. when it comes to the sale of foreign exchange, the nbs sold a daily average of usd 7. 9 billion on the interbank foreign exchange market. foreign exchange trade among banks increased considerably. in october, ending with october 28, the trade between the nbs and the banks, amounted to usd 5. 1 million, while among banks alone it amounted to usd 10. 9 million. although for a central bank : • inflation can never be sufficiently low and • foreign exchange reserves can never be sufficiently high the present level of reserves does represent a solid basis for a continuation of the exchange rate policy as it has been to date. 6. serbian state budget for 2005 the nbs has given its support to the serbian state budget for 2005, pointing out the following issues : •