##sequent increase in fx reserves continued in august, and that from may to date we have bought almost eur 1. 2 bn net. ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues, the uncertainty in the international environment is greater than it was three months ago concerning many issues. first of all, there is the uncertainty of geopolitical events and hence of their impact on the availability and prices of energy, industrial raw materials and food. further, stronger and more persistent than expected global inflationary pressures might induce central banks to tighten their monetary policies faster, producing more severe negative effects on global economic growth. bearing this in mind, the overall risks to economic growth projection are judged to be tilted more to the downside, and those to the inflation projection to the upside. in the period ahead, the nbs will continue to closely monitor and assess factors in the domestic and international environment, which will determine our future decisions and steps. depending on geopolitical developments and key inflation factors in both the domestic and international environment, we will estimate whether there is a need for further monetary tightening or whether the effects of past tightening provide for a sustainable return of inflation within the target tolerance band over the projection horizon. the preservation of price and financial stability in the medium run remains our monetary policy priority, along with support to further economic growth and development, including an additional rise in employment, as well as a favourable investment environment. i will conclude this introductory speech by repeating the words from the press release issued when a decade of my governorship was marked this month. serbia and its leaders have demonstrated that they are doing everything in their power to minimise the effect of this triple crisis on the citizens. we have fought to deliver security in unprecedented circumstances. figures show that we have maintained stability during all crises, and the crises were far from few. this is confirmed by the preserved key indicators of defence against shocks, such as the maintained relative stability of the exchange rate, foreign exchange reserves and liquidity of the financial system, as well as by the lowest level of npls on record. stability in the broadest sense of the word is a result that we are particularly proud of, and we shall do everything to maintain that stability going forward, because in this job there are no final victories – there is only day - to - day committed work. our job never ends, and it is only continuity and perseverance that bring success and development. i now give the floor to my colleagues from the economic research and statistics department to present the

##bs ips system, four years ago. since then, we have intensively upgraded that system by adding numerous new functionalities tailored to the needs of the modern user. – we encourage financial inclusion by developing payment services that enable simple and fast instant money transfers at any time of the day or year, based only on knowing the recipient's mobile phone number. – aware of the significance of a national card scheme for independence from global card systems and for the lower costs of payment services, we are constantly modernising the domestic dinacard. exceptionally important for us is the vibrant cooperation with china unionpay, which enables worldwide access to the national dinacard system. today, unionpay cards are accepted at over 85 % of atms in serbia and at 37 % of pos terminals. – we were among the first in europe to enable financial service consumers to conclude distance contracts, including by video identification, while guaranteeing full transparency, security and protection of their rights. – keeping abreast of blockchain technology that underlies trading in cryptocurrencies, we were among the first to regulate the manner and conditions under which cryptocurrencies can be traded. – digitalisation has become part and parcel of everyday business in insurance and vpf markets in the republic of serbia owing to the introduction of online purchase of new and modified products and alternative channels of communication. dear friends, despite, i can freely say, major breakthroughs in financial industry, digitalisation is a process far from complete. in fact, it will never be over. new technologies bring new opportunities, but also new risks. so what lies ahead are new opportunities, but also new challenges. – for instance, how to ensure satisfied consumers against the background of everchanging conditions and fast - growing appetite for innovation? – or how to transition further onto new digital technologies and maintain consumers'justified confidence and expectations of a safe and sound financial system, in the establishment and maintenance of which all of us have invested huge efforts? it is an old wisdom that tomorrow belongs to those who have a vision today! i will quote the great serbian writer milos crnjanski who said : “ we should look to the future. we should go to the future. all luckier nations look to the future and go forward. ” at global level, it is necessary to cooperate and exchange experience, because financial institutions'entry in the world of information technologies crosses out country borders and the activities of supervisory authorities are becoming increasingly intertwined