pillars of macroeconomic stability of serbia and reached usd 3. 02 billion in 2006, which is almost half the value of total exports of serbia over the same period. in the course of last year, two institutions engaged in a comprehensive analysis of the types, levels and frequency of such transfers. the world bank staff analysis focused on the transfer of remittances from germany to serbia while ebrd and the government of switzerland placed the emphasis on such transfers from switzerland. the key findings of both studies are as follows : 1. serbian diaspora is among the most numerous in each of the above countries. data for 2004 rank serbia number 11 in terms of the volume of remittances transferred ( us $ 4 billion ). 2. majority of remittances, up to 80 %, is transferred by informal channels, mainly via friends or bus drivers, who often charge for such services, and only a lesser portion, mainly retirement pays, are transferred via bank channels. 3. remittances are mainly spent to cover basic living expenses to raise the standard of living of the recipients above the poverty line and are not part of total savings nor invested in the development of the country. 4. there is no strategy planned with regard to the use of such remittances nor are those funds included in investment projects. 5. transfer of money via banking channels is still expensive and slow and sometimes takes as long as five days. plus, banks in serbia are not very much interested in attracting those transfers. with the kind of organization of money transfers from abroad that we currently have in serbia, it is soon going to be cheaper to fly to belgrade by low cost airline than to send money via bank channels! this is exactly the domain of interest that the nbs is currently exploring and i hope to be able next year to inform you that we have not only established fast and efficient ways of money transfer but also that it will have become cheap, even several times cheaper than it is today. we are currently working along two parallel lines. with one mobile operator in serbia we are trying to organize money transfers via mobile phones and money withdrawals via payment cards. the other system is similar to the classic transfer of remittances and payments would also be received by using payment cards in serbia. both of the above systems imply use of the dinacard system and crediting of accounts literally within minutes. finally, let me address those who are still interested in returning to serbia after many, many years of staying

. 4 % of gdp in 2016, bringing down the share of public debt in gdp. this helped achieve the three - year objectives of the fiscal consolidation programme, a year earlier than planned. at the same time, fully covered by foreign direct investment for the second year in a row, the current account deficit declined from 6. 0 % in 2014 to 4. 0 % of gdp in 2016. the influence of external factors and the increased resilience of our economy are also evident in the fx market – through maintenance of relative stability of the dinar exchange rate, which is no longer news for anyone. depreciation pressures, emerging late last and early this year, were in part generated by uncertainties in the international financial market and in part by the seasonally higher demand in foreign currency for the purchase of energy products. in an effort to ease excessive shortterm volatility of the exchange rate, the national bank of serbia intervenes in the fx market and will continue to do so, regardless of the direction of pressures. this means intervening on both sides. in so doing, we do not target any particular level of the exchange rate nor do we intend to influence its trend. ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues, as is well known to you, the task of the national bank of serbia is to preserve not only price, but financial stability as well. the bank has been striving to strengthen the capacity of banks to resolve the npl issue and to encourage the development of the npl market. as a result of measures taken under the npl resolution strategy, the share of npls in total loans declined significantly – according to preliminary data, from 21. 6 % at end - 2015 to 17. 0 % at end - 2016, their lowest since 2011. this only serves to confirm once again that a systemic, interinstitutional and coordinated approach yields results in this area. while my associates from the directorate for economic research and statistics will present in detail our assessments of macroeconomic developments and our latest projections, i would like to highlight several key messages. the national bank of serbia will continue to keep a close eye on and to assess the developments and trends in the domestic market and the international environment. as so far, we shall use all available instruments to ensure that inflation stays low and stable in the medium run. this is the best way in which a central bank, while at the same time maintaining financial stability, can contribute to economic growth. growth is expected to accelerate