dimitar bogov : what could sepa bring for the banking and the real sector in the republic of macedonia speech by mr dimitar bogov, governor of the national bank of the republic of macedonia, at the event “ what could sepa bring for the banking and the real sector in the republic of macedonia ”, organized by the banking association at the economic chamber of macedonia, in cooperation with the european banking federation ( ebf ), skopje, 13 may 2014. * * * honorable mr. stavreski, vice president of the government of the republic of macedonia and minister of finance, honorable mr. janchevski, chairman of the banking association of the macedonian economic chamber distinguished guests from the banking sector in the czech republic dear representatives of the banking and the real sector in macedonia ladies and gentlemen, one of the primary functions of each central bank is to create conditions for stable, reliable and efficient operation of the payment systems. to achieve this function, and according to the best practices of central banks of the eu member states, the national bank performs four basic roles in the payment systems : operational, supervisory, development and catalyst role. the successful performing of these functions is closely related to the importance of payment systems for a national economy. the proper functioning of the systems for large payments, which are owned and managed by central banks, is important for the effective monetary policy conduct. in circumstances of permanent changes in the infrastructure of financial markets, the supervisory role of the central bank regarding the payment system contributes to the maintenance of financial stability. additionally, the systems for large payments contribute to the coordination of the direct participants in the national payment system, such as the treasury of the ministry of finance, banks and clearing institutions, ensuring finality of all payments in the national economy. in this way, the national bank maintains the vitality of the payment systems as one of the most important components of the financial and economic infrastructure. in terms of achieving the development and catalyst role, allow me to affirm the strategic approach of the national bank, the ministry of finance and the banking association in the development of the national payment system of the republic of macedonia through the adoption and implementation of the strategy for the development of the payment system of the republic of macedonia for the period 2013 – 2017. our shared vision for the development of the payment systems of the republic of macedonia until 2017 is the modernization and improvement of the operations of payment systems through the application of high - tech achievements and gradual harmonization with the standards and

. a common feature for the current surroundings are disinflationary or deflationary pressures around the globe in light of the fall of oil prices, with potential impact on the monetary policy cycle, additionally increasing uncertainty about external environment. at this point, monetary policy must broaden its scrutiny to involve every important aspect from the external environment, domestic economic cycle as well as structural features important for the future monetary policy stance. the bottom line is that in a dynamic external environment we must take care about structural bottlenecks, regardless of whether they are related to the transitional stage of our economies or induced by the global crisis. i have tried to tackle some of them, which i believe will be discussed further on the high level governors panel or additionally elaborated in the next sessions within the research papers. as i mentioned at the beginning, this is a broad topic, which is very important for the monetary policy transmission effectiveness. therefore, i appreciate your attendance and contribution to our conference, in sharing experiences and broadening our overall knowledge on these issues. i wish you interesting conference and fruitful discussion! bis central bankers ’ speeches