three times – each time by 25 bp, to 5. 75 %. 3. we have also preserved relative stability of the dinar exchange rate against the euro, as an important pillar of investment and consumer confidence. 4. record fdi inflows have continued. i will make an exception here – this data is always first announced by the president, but since he is on the road, at a conference, i will give you the honour of announcing the latest data. of course, he already has it, because he is the one who contributed the most to such an outcome – fdi amounted to eur 4. 467 bn as at 30 november, and we still have the whole month of december, so we expect this year to be a record year with even higher investment inflows than the previous year. investment inflow remained diversified by project and geography. 5. our fx reserves amounted to a record eur 28. 3 bn at end - october, which is an additional increase of 13. 6 % during this year. 6. we also have record dinar savings, which have increased by over 80 % since the beginning of last year, reaching rsd 180 bn, which is ten times higher than in 2012. 7. in conditions of declining inflation, banks began easing credit standards by the end of last year, hence we have seen an acceleration in credit activity to 7. 2 % y - oy in october, with strong growth in loans to both corporates ( 4. 9 % ) and households ( 9. 2 % ). 8. in the past twelve years, we have tripled our gold reserves to 48 tonnes, and increased their share in total reserves to 13 %. this information becomes even more significant when we know that gold has gained almost 30 % in value just this year! gold gains in importance and value during periods of global turbulence, especially during global geopolitical conflicts and times of high inflation. unfortunately, in recent years, we have witnessed the effects of both of these factors. 9. i will always emphasise that our gold purchases were made in consultation with president vui, considering his strategic thinking, knowledge of global geopolitical relations, and the information he has access to. 10. all these results have officially placed us in the group of countries with an investment - grade rating! it is difficult to prioritise when it comes to opportunities and challenges. a year ago, i spoke here about the green agenda and digitalisation as opportunities

to 2020, to 116, 401, signalling a change in consumers ’ habits and increased orientation towards using digital means of entering into financial service contracts. of this, 18, 300 contracts were concluded using video - identification of consumers. further, when we compare q4 2021 with q1 2020, we see that the number of performed mbanking transactions increased by close to 120 % for natural persons and as much as 170 % for legal persons and entrepreneurs. the use of e - banking, which performed well even before the pandemic, also went up, with the number of transactions higher by 17 % for natural persons and 36. 3 % for legal persons and entrepreneurs. in your report, you specified that many of the countries in which the ebrd is operating plan to introduce the regulatory sandbox, which we have had in serbia for a long time already. we are also exploring the possibility of applying different innovation technologies, such as blockchain technologies and artificial intelligence, to respond to the needs of our business processes. to the extent possible, we have also regulated virtual currencies as a type of digital assets. in addition to all that, we need to cooperate and keep an open mind. as augustin carstens, general manager of the bank for international settlements, recently said : “ the soul of money belongs neither to a big tech nor to an anonymous ledger. the soul of money is trust. ” i have the habit of saying that people, knowledge and trust are the key foundations on which rest governments and all institutions, banking in particular. this does not change an iota in the digital era. it is the task of central banks to build trust, and i can promise that we will strive to deserve this trust in the years ahead, just as we have deserved it in the past ten years. i thank you for your attention, but also for your trust. ladies and gentlemen, esteemed colleagues, it is my message that we should not shy away from new technologies, but that we need to be prudent and cautious and take measures to manage cyber and other risks, to which we pay particular attention in the national bank of serbia. it is our task to create conditions worthy of the 21st century man, because you cannot start anything without people or complete it without institutions. i wish you a successful presentation and good health! 2 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches