and the interest rates for the real sector have constantly been around 14 to 15 percent. therefore, lately, the serbian central bank stabilized the exchange rate, too. large economies like turkey or poland can afford a floating exchange rate, but small economies cannot. it is much better to have a fixed exchange rate and disciplined policies. a few weeks ago you said that a reduction of the budget deficit to the level that does not increase the public debt should be considered. what did you actually want to say? i gave the same or similar statement a few times in the past. and it is not very different from what competent ministers think and say. in 2008, after the outbreak of the global economic crisis, we had a large room for fiscal support, because we had a low public debt, previously we had no budget deficit and the fiscal policy significantly supported the economic growth in the period when private consumption and external demand were shrinking. but in the past four years, the level of government debt increased to 34 percent of gdp. although it is still a moderate level, a gradual reduction of the budget deficit to a level that will stabilize the level of public debt should be considered. what is the level of budget deficit that is optimal for macedonia? there is no clear limit as to that level. any limit we set might be a mistake. it depends on a number of factors – what is the economic growth in the country, at what interest rate we are borrowing, what is the creditors ’ trust in our economy. therefore, you cannot set a limit and say that if we exceed that level, then the situation is very bad. generally, when economic growth is slower there is a room for fiscal stimulus and higher deficit, and when economic growth is faster, there is no need for fiscal stimulus and the deficit should be minimized. isn ’ t the maastricht criterion that level? the maastricht criterion of three percent for the budget deficit is set as a criterion in the euro area. it does not mean that macedonia should meet that level. perhaps in periods when fiscal stimulus is needed. in the next period for macedonia, perhaps the level of budget deficit, which would stabilize the public debt, is even lower. bis central bankers ’ speeches what is the limit that the government debt must not exceed? there is more room for the government, but that room will slowly be used up. therefore fiscal consolidation should start to be considered, in order to avoid a situation of starting with the fiscal consolidation after this room

decisions. according to some estimates, by 2025, 463 exabytes of data will be created each day globally. this means huge generation of data that can blur the official statistical information making it difficult for people to read and understand it. obviously, to bring statistics closer to the public we need to place further focus on aspects such as putting numbers in perspective so that they can be easily understood by the wider public, language simplification, that sometimes is not an easy task for experts that are used to statistical taxonomy, segmentation of the audience ( communicate not only to financial analysts and journalist, but to the broader audience, although through different channels ), as well as creation of relatable content that considers what matters to the public and at the same time is educational and entertaining4. along those lines, the national bank, recognizing the importance of communication, engages in quite an array of activities. at the end, i feel that it is appropriate to conclude my address with the motto of the european statistics day 2021 " statistics, a vaccine to protect democracy and combat the virus of disinformation ". 1 " survey of national statistical offices ( nsos ) during covid - 19 ", world bank and the united nations statistical division ( unsd ), brief, july 6 2020. 2 biancotti c., borin a., cingano f., tommasino p., veronese g., " the case for a coordinated covid - 19 response : no country is an island ", 18 march 2020 3 prof. dr frau - meigs d., " societal costs of fake news in the digital single market ", university sorbonne nouvelle, paris, france, european parliament's committee on the internal market and consumer protection, january 2019 4 nunes l. m, colaco a., marques r., oliveira m., " when reaching is no longer enough : 8 tips to engage with central banks'data users ", banco de portugal, isi, 63 world statistics congress, 2021 3 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches