’ s why we temporarily revived the credit control measure as of march 2012. this action has proven successful in attaining our monetary objectives. in february 2012 our balance of payments recorded a deficit of over naf 500 million ; today, as a consequence of those credit control measures, the deficit stands at naf 62. 6 million. ladies and gentlemen, innovation is not always easy. fear of the unknown often generates resistance to new ideas. therefore, it is important to create an environment conducive to innovation by creating champions to help overcome resistance. we live in a period of unconventional monetary policy. to quote jean - claude trichet2 the former president of the european central bank : “ … we all have had, since mid - 2007, the great privilege to experience extraordinary demanding and difficult times … ” he went on to say : “ the widespread introduction of so - called non - standard monetary policy measures by major central banks has been a defining characteristics of the global financial crisis. ” most of my professional life i spent thinking and practicing monetary policy. the basic tenet of my thesis was that in a small open economy as ours, fiscal consolidation is an indispensible condition for monetary stability. the debt relief program in the context of the constitutional changes was the fulfilment of that expectation. however, suddenly in the blink of an eye, the market for government bonds dried up, depriving the bank of an important policy instrument, namely, the ability to conduct monetary policy through open market operations. to fill that vacuum, we embarked on the development of the corporate bond market. while the unconventional monetary policy measures : principles - conditions - raison d ’ etre. speech delivered at the ijcb conference “ central banking : before, during, and after the crisis ” held on march 23 – 24, 2012 at the board of governors of the federal reserve system in washington, dc. bis central bankers ’ speeches corporate bond market has been gaining new momentum elsewhere, the development is being viewed with apprehension here. it baffles the mind to observe that in the aftermath of the great recession of 2008, there are still some people who advocate strict adherence to conventional monetary policy. ladies and gentlemen, let me expand on how innovation relates to the final main task of the central bank – promoting the soundness of the financial system — which is the responsibility of our prudential supervision. the global financial crisis has triggered major innovations in financial sector supervision. these innovations should minimize the chance that such a

anita angelovska bezhoska : national fintech strategy to be developed opening remarks by ms anita angelovska bezhoska, governor of the national bank of the republic of north macedonia, at the nbrm workshop on fintech, skopje, 6 december 2019. * * * dear mr. jay tikam, representatives of the financial sector regulators, ministries dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, it is my great pleasure to open this fintech event organized as part of our ongoing efforts to encourage fintech debate among regulators, supervisors, relevant ministries and other stakeholders. as many times before, the european fund for southeast europe, has again proved its long - standing support for delivering workshops in a number of central bank areas, for which we are sincerely thankful. the main idea of this workshop is to raise awareness among decision makers and other stakeholders on the importance of the new fintech solutions and at the same time to lay ground for its development in our country, starting by identifying relevant goals and activities to be envisaged in our forthcoming national fintech strategy. over the last couple of years, the development of financial technology and its penetration in a wide spectrum of financial services has gained momentum. a variety of fintech solutions are being offered, which can be broadly clustered in three groups : a ) financial services, as business that offer internet based applications for instance for managing personal finance, trading securities, automating financial services ( robotization ) ; b ) financing, via platforms that directly match investors and lenders, such as crowdfunding, or peer to peer lending ; c ) payments, via more innovative and customer tailored payment solutions. no doubts we have that fintech offers wide - ranging opportunities. it holds the promise of reducing costs and frictions, narrowing information asymmetry, enhancing efficiency and competition, and increasingly important, broadening access to wider set of financial services – especially in low - income countries and for underserved part of the population – although it may take time for the benefits of technological change to fully materialize. against this background, ongoing innovations and technological advances can support stronger growth dynamics and higher inclusiveness of the growth, thus speeding up the real convergence process through a number of channels. for small economies, such as ours, fintech innovations can play important role in facilitating trade integration. more convenient and cheaper instruments for digital payments can set basis for easier cross - border trade, including e - commerce that currently plays a marginal role in the region. and there