has significantly reduced due to new jobs creation, measures against informal economy and active labor market measures. however, the countries of the region should continue strengthening their potential growth, productivity and competitiveness. the total factor productivity growth in many emerging economies registered a slowdown during the crisis mainly reflecting the slower growth and technological progress in advanced economies. however, the emerging economies must strengthen their activities towards higher efficiency on all levels of operation, building institutional capacity and further implementation of structural reforms that all together should improve total factor productivity contribution and boost the overall convergence towards advanced economies. the public debt and fiscal consolidation are still an area that requires additional vigilance by the policymakers in emerging economies, especially in light of changing financial conditions in the upcoming period. around a decade after the global crisis, we have seen that the banks, globally, are in a quite better shape. however, the reforms and basel requirements should be fully implemented in order to build resilient banks. the digitalization is yet another interesting phenomenon of today ’ s life and unavoidable element of the current global environment. fintech in banking industry provides new revolutionary approach to the supply of banking services, as a response of the banks to the changing habits of their clients. this creates new opportunities, but also risks that regulatory authorities must be aware of. therefore, globalization and innovation in financial sector call for deepening the international cooperation between authorities in different fields of operation. this conference is just one of the possible forms of this international cooperation. today, we will discuss the empirical findings from the research papers received upon our call for papers, on different and very important central banking issues, while tomorrow we will have panel discussions on policy issues with high - level representatives from central banks and international institutions. i believe that all together, we will make contribution by answering the pending economic questions that i mentioned earlier and exchanging experiences that will enable us to better cope with the future challenges. i wish you interesting conference, fruitful discussion and pleasant stay in ohrid! thank you. 2 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches

##minated more effectively, but it has to be accepted, understood and trusted by the general public. good official statistics, as dramatically shown during the covid - 19 crisis, can be crucial to provide a first line of defence against misinformation ( biancotti et al., 2020 ) 2. high quality and reliable statistics is the " weapon " against fake news and divisive messages. more than ever as policy makers we are faced with misinformation, fake news and speculations that can undermine our ability to act effectively. the digital environment, the growing role of social media and absence of clear regulatory framework propelled the dissemination of the so called " mal - information ". for example, we as a central bank, faced ungrounded speculations against the exchange rate on a couple of occasions. keeping us 24 / 7 alerted is the least damage that this type of irresponsible behaviour implies. but the social costs, the damage to the public and the confusion it creates, the harm to the integrity of the institutions and their credibility is enormous. uninformed agent can base their financial decision on unsound grounds, thus incurring personal 2 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches economic losses. and we as institutions might suffer erosion of our credibility that could hamper us in delivering on our public goods. what can be done to mitigate the impact of misinformation in the modern world? let me refer on this note on the study on " societal costs of fake news in the digital single market " 3 and transpose it to economics. first, it is the self - regulation of the industry – raising awareness of misinformation, costs that it can entail for the society and need of fact - checking. second is the regulation – creating clear and transparent rules of game. third, education - media and information literacy can lead to increased public awareness and capacity to critically asses the news, including fake news. against this background, how can we as producers of statistics contribute in this regard? it appears that adequate communication of our data to the public can help crowd out low quality statistics. we need to consider how to bring closer the statistical products of our work to the public. it is true, that we as central banks have provided to the public a vast portfolio of statistical data, with many dimensions, metadata and public explanations. however, the data, or the explanations may not count if they do not reach the public and do not influence their