anita angelovska bezhoska : speech at the ministerial dialogue on the economic reform programmes of the candidate countries speech by ms anita angelovska bezhoska, governor of the national bank of the republic of north macedonia, at the ministerial dialogue on the economic reform programmes of the candidate countries, brussels, 17 may 2019. * * * dear ministers, dear representatives of the european commission, european central bank and eurostat, it is always a great pleasure to be part of the regular ministerial dialogue, having the opportunity to reflect on important issues that are in the spotlight of the economic agenda. at the same time it as an excellent occasion to express our appreciation on the provided assessments of the economic reform programme. the main takeaways from these assessments have been important guidelines, mapping our policy actions, enhancing our capacity, and providing for faster closure of the existent gaps. now, let me briefly reflect on the topic of structural reforms for attracting foreign direct investment and increase resilience. there is no doubt that investments are one of the key ingredients for increasing the long - term potential of an economy. when it comes to emerging economies, commonly there is a need for additional cross – border capital, which can complement the insufficient domestic saving. the more these flows are comprised of fdis, the higher the positive impact on productivity and competiveness. in the regional context, pre - crisis investments were an important growth driver, reaching close to 30 % of gdp, while in the postcrisis period investment ratios has plunged. north macedonia stands out as an outlier, as the share of investments continued to increase, and it is one of the rare economies with investment level currently well above the pre - crisis one. this reflects stable and resilient domestic financial system, and rising inflows of fdis, mostly in the tradable sector, that persisted despite the global crisis. this process was driven by the investment supportive policies and reforms, that significantly improved the business environment, as visible through the high ranking on the wb ’ s doing business - improvement of 22 positions in ten years, currently ranked tenth. it diversified the structure of the economy, making it more resilient to external shocks, and leading to positive shifts in the export base towards higher value added products. the outcome of this process was visible improvement of the external position of the economy, and further increase of official reserves, thus creating room for accommodative monetary policy, given the de facto fixed exchange rate

anita angelovska - bezoska : workshop on fintech - opening remarks opening remarks by ms anita angelovska - bezoska, governor of the national bank of the republic of macedonia, at the nbrm workshop on fintech, skopje, 28 may 2018. * * * dear mr. jay tikam, dear colleagues, it is my great pleasure to open the nbrm workshop on a topic that has been attracting a rising interest by regulators, supervisors and central bankers, i. e. a workshop on fintech organizations that, by combining new business models and innovative technology, gradually change the shape of the financial services segment. the main idea of this workshop is to become better acquainted with this rather new but very important topic. it has been organized with the support of the european fund for southeast europe, for which we are thankful. although in continental europe, fintech companies account for just a small share of the markets for banking, payment services and asset management, still they are on the rise as they are rapidly entering the markets and competing with banks. according to ernst & young ’ s fintech adoption index, one - third of the consumers utilize at least two or more fintech services and they are increasingly aware of fintech as part of their day - to - day activities. the fintech adoption index for services offered by fintech organizations, divided into five broad categories – money transfers and payment services, financial planning tools, savings and investments, borrowing and insurance, indicates that money transfers and payment services are continuing to lead the fintech charge with adoption standing at 50 % in 2017 and 88 % of consumers anticipating of doing so in the future. this rapid rise in fintech organizations has posed many dilemmas : what are the benefits that fintechs bring to the society, on the one hand, and what are the risks that they create, on the other? is it the end of banking or are banks going to team up with the newcomers? one of the main concerns in this regard is that while fintech companies increase financial inclusion, facilitate the access to finance and lead to more competitive markets, they can also be conducive to cutting costs and rising risks in the traditional banking segment. against this background, the fintech topic has received an increasing attention in the central banking community, including our central bank. we have been closely monitoring the fintech developments, evaluating the benefits and risks that they bring and trying to strike a right balance given the local context. an