radovan jelasic : macroeconomic policy in 2009 speech by mr radovan jelasic, governor of the national bank of serbia, at the second business roundtable with government representatives, organized by the ekonomist media group, belgrade, 27 october 2008. * * * in terms of political turbulences and uncertainties, this year can only be compared with the year 2000. the country was faced with the issue of territorial sovereignty, early parliamentary and local elections, and signing and deferral of ratification of the stabilization and association agreement with the european union. as regards the economy, however, no sooner had inflationary pressures subsided in the wake of a fall in prices of food and petroleum products, when a new, still greater challenge appeared on the scene. an unprecedented crisis broke out in the global financial markets and, whereas its negative consequences were soon felt in serbia as well, its end effects and duration are still impossible to forecast. but let me ask you a question : is anyone in this country aware that, despite all the above external and internal turbulences, inflation in serbia is within single - digit bounds, gdp growth is still robust, the exchange rate had, until recently, been “ firmly ” stable, real wages have been rising at double - digit rates for several years now, credits are available, etc.? or, let me ask another question which is more important both for myself, and, i am firmly convinced, for the future of this country – why do people take these results “ for granted, ” as something which will be sustained of itself, regardless of how we behave? why do they believe that we can keep on disregarding external and internal influences without bearing any consequences? and, especially when we all know that our doings were due to frequent elections. why must “ bad times ” return before people understand that present times were good, only we failed to make the best of them?! macroeconomic stability in serbia will continue to hinge on the following key factors : 1. movements in global money and capital markets leave no room for doubt : the situation is bad, and, for the time being, there is no light at the end of the tunnel. capital markets worldwide are swayed by unprecedented turbulences and money remains expensive despite а ) government interventions worth thousands of billions of euros and b ) policy rate cuts and cash injections by central banks. at the same time, the banking system faces a number of serious challenges, such as : а ) capital

away, to keep me company here and be my allies in the process of transition which is obviously not as easy as we thought it would be back in the year 2000. in late march this year the nbs organized a gathering in london of about one hundred serbs who are employed in the most prominent financial institutions of the uk capital. i must admit that it was only then that i fully realized where the really very best have gone. but, the times are a - changing, serbia is taking big strides towards the european union, standard of living is improving and there are ample professional challenges around. we have managed to persuade some of those young professionals to come back to serbia and work in the national bank. let me emphasize again that the doors of our bank, and the doors of my office are kept wide open to all who wish to work for serbia and not only make profit in serbia!!!