ana mitreska : address a€ “ celebrating the world savings day address by ms ana mitreska, vice governor of the national bank of the republic of north macedonia, at the celebrating the world savings day, organised by the macedonian banking association, skopje, 29 october 2021. * * * dear minister of finance, mr. fatmir besimi, dear director of the deposit insurance fund, mr. amir shabani, dear president of the macedonian banking association, ms. maja stevkova sterieva, dear colleagues, thank you for the invitation and the opportunity given on behalf of the central bank to address this event, which marks the world savings day. looking back at the genesis and essence of the celebration of this day, it is interesting to see that the understanding of " savings as a manifestation of the maturity of individuals, but also societies as a whole ", is in its basis. many aspects are founded in this thesis, such as the financial literacy of each individual, the confidence in the institutions, the development of the economy and the capacity to save, the responsibility of those who manage savings and direct them to productive goals to increase the potential of the entire economy. for the second consecutive year, we are celebrating the world savings day in pandemic conditions and from there i will address several main issues that are especially relevant due to the prolonged health crisis. first, what are the consequences of the pandemic on the volume of savings and its structure? second, do the new circumstances change the investment behavior of the population and what consequences may it have on the financial stability? third, what are the processes that accelerated and surfaced due to the pandemic, and which are also an opportunity for productive use of savings and financial support of sustainable projects by the financial sector? unlike other crisis episodes, the pandemic has actually increased savings and this process is a global phenomenon. in the developed countries, the estimated excess savings in 2020 was nearly 7 % of gdp, showing that savings were higher in the pandemic, than in normal circumstances. in the region of the western balkans, the rates of domestic savings measured as the difference between the generated income and the total private sector and government consumption registered a slight decrease of around 3 percentage points of gdp, but in conditions of a strong fiscal consumption for support of the economies. this means that private sector savings, despite the great recession, it is very likely that they remained relatively stable or grew. there are three reasons that contribute

##able economic matrices. at this juncture, with the global crisis behind us and all the lessons learned, i think as policy makers we are more knowledgeable to reap the benefits of the eu entrance more wisely, and to better deal with the challenges ahead. at this point i must say, that macedonian economy is already well integrated both in terms of trade and finance with the eu. more than 70 % of the total trade is with eu countries, the foreign owned banks are mostly of eu origin, and the bulk of financial flows comes from eu. very importantly, these financial flows went in export – oriented and more productive segments, that fortified the fundaments of the economy, provided impetus to growth and did not add to inflationary pressures, or pressures on foreign reserves. and, this model should actually be the proper way to proceed after the eu entrance, as well. less reliance on short - term volatile financial flows, and import of longer term capital is the only way to enhance the productivity of the economy and improve its competitiveness. very often, the entrance on the large eu common market of goods, services, capital and labor, not only is connected to faster growth and real convergence, but also to convergence in price levels. as wages start to increase, and gradual shift towards consumption of more expensive services occurs, the price level might elevate as well, thus posing challenges for monetary policy. these price pressures can be avoided by boosting the 1 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches productivity, thus creating more favorable environment for the monetary policy, without pressures on the interest rates. the second angle that should be pinpointed is the implication that eu entrance does have on the further monetary integration, the adoption of the euro as a single currency and the role that the national central bank would have in this context. entering the eu, for the nbrm would automatically mean participation in the european system of central banks ( escb ). in this manner, we are getting much closer to europe in the field of central banking. the staff of the central bank becomes part of many committees, subcommittees and working groups of the escb, which is crucial ingredient for strengthening the institutional capacity for policy making. and this is vital for the future steps, as the eu membership, for small and open economy, with high level of euroization and fixed exchange rates would inevitable imply need for very serious preparations for the euro adoption. it requires passing the so - called test period, staying in the er