mira eric - jovic : compulsory insurance, damage compensation and security over receivables opening speech by mrs mira eric - jovic, vice - governor of the national bank of serbia, at the 13th annual conference “ compulsory insurance, damage compensation and security over receivables ”, belgrade, 16 september 2010. * * * ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to greet you all on behalf of the national bank of serbia, sponsor of this 13th regular annual conference, as well as to point out the significance of this event and the importance of its agenda. namely, all expertise acquired and activities taken in order to improve damage compensation procedures and upgrade fair and sound insurer practices will lead to more equitable damage compensation according to principles of fairness and justice. this, at the same time, represents a precondition for efficient consumer protection and building consumer confidence in the insurance business, which, in turn, is a prerequisite to insurance sector growth. that is why this conference and its agenda – compulsory automotive insurance, damage compensation and security over receivables – are particularly significant at this point, i. e. after the enactment of the new law which now has to be implemented fully in practice. the solutions laid down by this law, particularly those relating to damage compensation, aim primarily to protect the interests of damaged parties. this is all the more so as such persons, for no fault on their part or even active participation in damage events, suffer the consequences of someone else ’ s reckless or accidental conduct, often for as long as they live. legal solutions therefore seek to ensure that those persons can exercise their right to damage compensation in full and as effectively as possible. i believe that, regulatory - wise, we have made significant progress in this segment of the system. improvement of the regulatory framework should, of course, be accompanied with building good insurer practice, leading ultimately to their better performance, but also to improved court practice and practice of other parties in the process of damage evaluation and compensation. the importance of adequate implementation of the law cannot be stressed enough – this type of insurance holds a 30 % share in the domestic insurance market, while as many as 11 of the 22 companies engaging in insurance business are involved in compulsory insurance. true, available data point to some positive trends in terms of timeliness in the claim resolution process, as well as in terms of reducing the number of overdue claims. nevertheless, it should be said that though improved, timeliness is still

living standards without compromising economic growth. thanks to this, inflation has been on a stable downward path since april 2023 and has been more than halved ( it will soon be three times below its peak of march 2023 ), which we have consistently projected. it is expected to retreat within the target band of 3±1. 5 % around mid - year and approach the target midpoint of 3 % at end2024. over the past 12 years, the dinar gained 1. 2 % against the euro. the nbs has taken constant care to use fx reserves cautiously in periods of heightened depreciation pressures – by investing in exchange rate stability, and to build up fx reserves at times of prevailing appreciation pressures, creating an additional buffer for the entire domestic financial system. since 6 august 2012 to date, the nbs has bought eur 8. 3 bn net in the fx market. in this way, as the most important individual factor, it contributed to a more than twofold increase in the country's fx reserves which topped eur 25 bn at end - february 2024. this is eur 15 bn ( almost 150 % ) more than at end - july 2012 when they measured eur 10. 1 bn, while net fx reserves more than tripled in the same period ( rose by 276 % ) – from eur 5. 5 bn to eur 20. 8 bn. fx reserves not only increased, but their structure improved as well – the quantity, value and share of gold went up notably. since august 2012, the quantity of gold holdings increased 2. 5 times, from 14. 8 tonnes in late july 2012 to the current level of 40. 6 tonnes of gold kept in the nbs's vaults. we purchased some of this in the international market ( a total of 12 tonnes in 2019 and 2020 ), while a portion was bought from domestic producers. this is gold of the highest quality and purity ( over 99. 5 % ). the share of gold holdings in fx 3 / 8 bis - central bankers'speeches reserves climbed from 6. 2 % to around 10 %, and its value increased more than fourfold ( from eur 0. 6 bn to eur 2. 5 bn ). since july 2021, after the nbs imported 13 tonnes of gold from abroad ( 1 tonne remaining from succession and 12 tonnes purchased abroad ), all gold reserve holdings have been kept in serbia. in the past 12 years, together with the