looked like it was building, it had not strengthened sufficiently by the time of the july meeting to warrant action. in august the case got weaker, and it got weaker again by early september. essentially what happened was that the risks to growth from abroad abated, while those posed by the rapid rise in debt did not. this recent experience, and the one a year earlier, is instructive in the discussion about central bank communication. what it shows is that, while it is natural for market participants and the media to want central banks to say more and more about their intentions, people need to keep very much in mind that our assessment of what we might need to do is, of necessity, highly conditional on a view of the future. and the future often turns up the unexpected - to which we need to respond by revising our intentions. so it is important that observers not only listen to the central bank ’ s words, but also continue to look closely at the actual information coming in. i know the majority of you do. secondly, because the future cannot be known, and because things can change quickly, people need some understanding of the principles which guide central bank behaviour. so there is probably more to be gained by continued efforts at articulating how our framework for policy works, than by providing ever more frequent commentary on events. such information hopefully provides interested observers with a device to filter, in real time, the information becoming available. this, combined with a periodic account, after the event, of how we filtered it, is the most helpful form of transparency - describing how we think about things and, within that framework, why we did what we did. the most recent statement on monetary policy, in fact, goes a good deal further down this track than most of its predecessors. conclusion the world economy is still not entirely in the clear, but is better than it was, and a fair bit better than it might have been. it is sensible at present to look for further improvement, while keeping in mind the possibility of regression. if things work out acceptably well abroad, the australian economy will next year have a better chance of balanced growth than we have had for a few years. we will continue to assess the evolving balance of risks and will respond, in a measured fashion, as needed - and we ’ ll do our best to keep you informed.

. 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