by the interest rates on new corporate and household loans, which in q3 moved close to the lowest levels recorded in the past months. better financing conditions are a result of monetary policy easing, lower country risk premium, increased competition and persistently low interest rates in the international money market. in nearly all of these segments we can recognise the importance of domestic factors – primarily of macroeconomic stability, which reflects well - coordinated monetary and fiscal policies. in such conditions, economic growth, accompanied with labour market recovery, contributes to the further increase in lending activity. in september, the y - o - y growth in total domestic loans accelerated to 7. 7 % excluding the effect of exchange rate changes. this credit growth was recorded against the background of continued efforts to resolve npls which led to their significant write - off and sale to non - banking sector entities, supporting the investment upswing and the acceleration of economic growth. chart 4 falling borrowing costs supported lending activity chart 3 interest rates on dinar loans are close to minimum ( annual level, in % ) ( at constant exchange rate as at 30 sept. 2014, y - o - y rates, in % ) 20. 6 16. 4 11. 9 10. 2 5. 05 7. 7 - 5 - 10 non - financial corporations - new business households - new business non - financial corporations - outstanding amounts households - outstanding amounts key policy rate source : nbs. - 15 total domestic loans total domestic loans * source : nbs. * excluding the effect of npl write - off and sale since early 2016. implementation of the npl resolution strategy continues to yield excellent results. in slightly more than three years since the adoption of the npl resolution strategy the amount of npls was slashed by over 67 %. at the same time, their share in total loans was cut by close to 16 pp, to 6. 4 % in september which is their lowest level since 2008 when the monitoring of this indicator of bank asset quality began. owing to the considerable drop in the npl ratio, high capital adequacy of banks and better access to smes financing, serbia made a significant progress in the international competitiveness list of the world economic forum for 2018, as judged by the financial system indicators. chart 6 high capitalisation of the banking sector chart 5 npl share fell to its lowest level ( in % ) ( gross principle, in rsd bn ) ( in % ) 22. 8 21. 9 21. 8 21. 4 21

jorgovanka tabakovic : people, knowledge and trust are the key foundations of states and all institutions, particularly banking speech by dr jorgovanka tabakovic, governor of the national bank of serbia, on the occasion of marking the 100th anniversary of the association of serbian banks, belgrade, 4 december 2021. * * * esteemed ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues, it is a pleasure and honour to greet you, from the position of the governor, on behalf of the national bank of serbia and in my personal name, on the day when the association of serbian banks is marking an entire century since its founding. your 100th anniversary deserves respect in historical terms as it attests to the durability of one of the oldest associations of banks in europe. the spirit of history commits us, just as it commits the national bank of serbia, which, with its 137 - year - long tradition ranks among the oldest central banks in the world. if we take a retrospective view of our institution from its very inception to date, we shall unavoidably discern that the rising complexity of economic relations called for increasing authorities of the national bank of serbia, whereby we have become part of the group of central banks with the largest number of competences. the traditional functions of preserving monetary and financial stability were complemented with the supervision of financial institutions and financial education. transparency is today one of important characteristics of central bank functioning. our objective is to ensure that our decisions are understood and that we are the service of our citizens that they deserve. we are clear in our attitude and decisive in our intention not to allow any speculations that could sway the exchange rate into a direction that would be undesirable for our citizens and businesses, and i believe this is the warranty of our successful duration. today, when we talk about history, i cannot but mention that it also implies the obligation and responsibility in terms of constant development and advancement of professionalism, expertise and true values. of course, the notion of true values depends on who defines them. i am certain that we all agree that people, knowledge and trust are the key foundations of states and all institutions, particularly banking. trust is a house of cards, destroyed by a tad of doubt, while the fortresses of doubt are made of the strongest material – prejudices and fear. esteemed ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues, we have learned through history that financial crises have often broken out as the crises of trust and a disconne