of social and cultural factors, in the extent to which they support the idea that price stability is an indispensable, yet insufficient factor for achieving those objectives. it would have been nice had we found only successful stories in the history of central banking in the republic of macedonia. however, in the largest part of the past 60 years, facts are different. both successes and failures are evident. starting from the fact that the role of central banking in the development of the economy is best seen in the development of the institution itself, please allow me to draw your attention to some of the more significant moments of that development. at the very beginning, the bank was conducting only a few central banking operations : distribution od cash, payment operations, control, i. e. in today's language, supervision of banks. its first manager was dr. todor mirovski, at that time manager of makedonska stopanska banka, while from the beginning of 1947 until june 1950, aleksandar bogoev. from a functional viewpoint, the central banking in the past 60 years may be conditionally divided into three periods. we could call the first period pre - institutional ( 1946 - 1970 ), the second was a period of formal institutionalization ( 1971 - 1991 ), and the third was a period of monetary independence ( 1992 - 2006 ). we denote the first period as pre - institutional since there was an institution established only on a federal level - central bank. and, as you are well aware, the main feature of post - war life in all spheres, including banking as a whole, was centralization. consequently, all communal banks immediately became branches of the national bank of, at that time, federal yugoslavia - head office of nrm, engaged in attracting funds, extending credits in the amount of the funds attracted, performing limited activities in the international payment operations, performing vault activities for executing the budgets of the local units, etc. the head office, i. e. the rudiment of the central bank continues to distribute banknotes and coins, attract funds, extend credits to banks, organize international payment operations. as late as in the sixties of the preceding century the competences of the national bank, i. e. the head office in macedonia started to be distinguished from the competences of the commercial banks. at the same time, however, the dependence of the head office in macedonia on the national bank of yugoslavia of that time, increased - a process which

anita angelovska bezhoska : opening address - fifth meeting of the regional working group for financial education of southeastern europe opening address by ms anita angelovska bezhoska, governor of the national bank of the republic of north macedonia, at the fifth meeting of the regional working group for financial education of southeastern europe, skopje, 27 september 2019. * * * distinguished representatives of the central banks, dear representatives of international institutions, dear guests, ladies and gentleman, it is my great pleasure to give the opening address at the fifth meeting of the regional working group for financial education of southeastern europe, hosted by our national bank. i am more than certain that joint fora, such as this one, are important venue for raising our awareness and knowledge on matters of mutual interest. and, there is no dilemma that financial education, as a spotlight of this working group, is an issue of mutual interest gaining prominence and importance among all stakeholders – central banks, regulators, financial services providers, consumers. we are all faced with rapidly evolving financial landscape, in which being knowledgeable means being capable of reaping the benefits and mitigating risks. now allow me to shed some light on a couple of important dimensions such as relevance of the financial literacy and the benefits it brings to the society, the specific circumstances that brought this issue to the fore in the last decade, the role played by the central banks in this segment, the current state and the challenges ahead for the region and our country. why does financial literacy matter? it is more than clear that the absence of understanding of the basic financial concepts erodes our capability to make proper and well - informed choices in terms of savings, investment, and borrowing. the costs of these choices are not confined only to individuals, but they can have systemic implications, eroding the overall financial stability. the translation of these misinformed decisions into systemic risks is exactly one of the main reasons why financial literacy became the mainstream in the past decade. the pre - crisis credit boom was supported by irrational exuberance and overconfidence of “ never ending ” rise in assets prices and low financing costs. the credit boom turned into credit bust, and the consequences of the “ bubble – burst ” are still with us. according to the latest imf map of weak spots, heavily indebted households are still the main source of vulnerability in many systemically important advanced and emerging economies, and potential source of next financial crisis. apparently, being financially literate