jorgovanka tabakovic : taking knowledge to a higher level in serbia speech by dr jorgovanka tabakovic, governor of the national bank of serbia, on the occasion of signing of the memorandum of cooperation between the national bank of serbia and the faculty of economics in belgrade, belgrade, 27 january 2016. * * * dear colleagues, esteemed mr. boricic, esteemed members of the press, allow me at the beginning to answer four simple questions. why is this memorandum signed today by mr. boricic, as the dean of the faculty of economics, and myself, as the governor? because, by definition, it is the top manager's task to be in command of the future, finance and human resources. this is and has been the responsibility of the head of an institution. why are we signing this memorandum today, three and a half years into my term in office? because all informal channels, personalities, letters of reference have so far turned out to be an insufficient guarantee that we would get the best people. yes, some came and have stayed, but there are also many who came and left. many of those for whom the nbs was just a stepping stone, a training ground, and, in the worst - case scenario for this country, a reference for a future elsewhere, outside serbia. after signing this memorandum, we will have a chance to select “ the best of the best ” and ensure they stay with the national bank of serbia. how did the memorandum come about? it was at the initiative of the young people from the faculty of economics who are here with us today. they knocked on our doors introducing themselves as the team for serbia. the team. and for me, this was the key word. because, the solution lies not in genius individuals, but in the genius of a team of individuals. a team with a leader – yes, a team at the top – no, and this is why we are here today and why we are signing this memorandum. this meeting is motivated by the basic needs of men : to learn, to progress and to create. and why do we need each other – the faculty of economics in belgrade and the national bank of serbia? because there is no alternative to knowledge. and because in order to add value and improve by practice, you must have something of value to start with. during summer practice in the nbs, students are given a chance to improve on the qualities they already demonstrated during

national bank of serbia governor ’ s opening remarks at the presentation of the inflation report – august 2018 dr jorgovanka tabakovic, governor belgrade, 15 august 2018 ladies and gentlemen, esteemed members of the press, dear colleagues, welcome to the presentation of the august inflation report. as always, we will give you an overview of monetary and macroeconomic trends for the period since the previous report and set out our expectations for the period ahead. given that on 6 august i rounded off my first term of office as the governor, allow me, before i give the floor to my colleagues, to briefly dwell on some of the results achieved over the last six years, since results are the right and only measure of success. as you have witnessed yourself, in the past six years serbia has been transformed into a stable and promising economy – an economy with low and predictable inflation, balanced fiscal account, reduced external imbalances, a downward trajectory of public and external debt, growing investment and recovered labour market. today we live in a country with a significantly lower risk premium, an upgraded credit rating and a better position on the international competitiveness lists. progress is also reflected in lower interest rates and, by all means, in the preserved value of the dinar and opened possibilities for raising our income, all of which boosts investment, exports and production. in such an ambience, serbia ’ s gross domestic product has been on the rise for eleven quarters in a row and, according to our latest projections, this year its growth rate is going to measure 4 %. this is by 0. 5 percentage points more than what was envisaged by our may projection, owing to a faster than projected growth in construction and agriculture – on the production side, and a faster pick up in investment – on the expenditure side. we expect such movements to continue in the period ahead, given that favourable conditions at home support growth in investment and exports and, by extension, higher employment and living standard of citizens. most importantly, the results achieved are long - term and lasting. for five years in a row, inflation has been low, stable, predictable and comparable to that in european countries, and the nbs is trusted that inflation will remain low in the future as well. what we consider our most important result is that low inflation has become a normality in serbia, which means that we have succeeded in achieving our primary objective, mandated by law. not so long ago, in the autumn of 2012, year