anita angelovska bezhoska : the national strategy for financial education and financial inclusion in north macedonia address by ms anita angelovska bezhoska, governor of the national bank of the republic of north macedonia, at the workshop “ the national strategy for financial education and financial inclusion in north macedonia : coordinated efforts for enhancing financial literacy in north macedonia ”, video conference, 16 september 2021. * * * dear deputy minister of finance, dear representatives of financial regulators, dear representatives of the dutch ministry of finance and the oecd, representatives of the international fora in the country, colleagues from the private and non - government sector, it is my great pleasure to address you at this virtual event devoted to financial literacy and education. first, let me use this opportunity to express our deepest gratitude to the dutch ministry of finance and the international network on financial education at the oecd for their support and high - level expertise provided within the regional technical assistance project on financial education. at this very point, i have no doubt that we all profoundly understand the concept of financially literate and financially included citizens, and its importance for the overall prosperity of our societies. as a central bank, highly aware of the former, we have imprinted financial education and inclusion as a separate strategic goal, and along with other financial regulators, we have streamlined joint vision and efforts in the recently adopted first national strategy on financial education. i do believe that the roadmap that we paved will lift financial skills of the citizens and the level of their inclusion, making them cognizant of all the possibilities, but of the potential threats as well. the importance of financial literacy does have enduring origins, yet it gained prominence after the global financial crisis. unfortunately, it was a bitter way of learning how low level of financial literacy and risk awareness can contribute to a large - scale financial crisis. of course, there is no single cause or a single player in conceiving a crisis. so was the case with this one as well. but in this crisis episode, the illiteracy played an important role. in the united states, “ the development of a speculative bubble and its burst was also due to the reckless financial behaviours of households, including the most vulnerable ones who contracted mortgages they should not have subscribed considering their financial situation. actually, individuals were often not aware of the risks they were exposed to ”. it collapsed the u. s. financial system, and given the tight financial linkages

total aggregate outstanding loans have grown by 12. 0 % to rm727. 0 billion during 2008 and by 11 % yoy as at end - march 2009. dealing with financial risks – from regulatory perspective on the regulatory front, bank negara malaysia has and is now in the process of conducting another series of stress tests to gauge, from a capital standpoint, the collective soundness of the banking sector in absorbing potential losses. complementing this is the liquidity stress tests conducted to assess specifically the capability to withstand market wide liquidity shocks. this reflects the heightened state of vigilance in bank negara malaysia as we continue to direct significant effort and resources towards strengthening our surveillance. in addition to macro surveillance, the supervision framework is also more forward looking including increased engagements and dialogue with senior management of financial institution, industry leaders, trade bodies and various chambers of commerce for the early detection of emerging issues and developments. facilitating access to credit and easing monetary policy another area of importance is the continuing availability of credit from the banking sector. we have earlier highlighted the rate of growth in outstanding loans. in addition, the government has introduced specific guarantee schemes while bank negara malaysia also, on its part, maintained a monetary policy easing stance that is conducive to achieve the same goal of facilitating access to credit at reasonable cost. at the same time, to assist the household sector, the agensi kaunselling dan pengurusan kredit ( akpk ) is also an avenue for individual borrowers and potential borrowers to seek advice and assistance in managing their finances and debts. clients of the banking industry may also contact bank negara malaysia hotlines and its link and telelink for assistance for info. link refers to laman informasi nasihat dan khidmat. association of banks in malaysia ( abm ) has also introduced toll free lines for the benefit of its stakeholders. these combined efforts seek to lower borrowing costs and ease cash flows while at the same time promote financial discipline. more importantly, it is to avert a sharp slowdown in economic activities. financial liberalisation bank negara malaysia has also remained committed to the objectives of the financial sector master plan ( fsmp ) issued in 2001. the recently announced liberalization measures, for example, forms part of the concluding phase of the fsmp which is to liberalise the banking sector by allowing for the increase in operational flexibilities, product offering and, the issuance of new licenses