Skopje, 23 February 2024 (MIA) — In a video interview for the business and finance monthly magazine Euromoney, National Bank Governor Anita Angelovska Bezhoska said inflation trends were positive but central banks should continue to closely monitor movements because of existing risks and ongoing uncertainty, according to the National Bank in a press release.

In the interview, Angelovska Bezhoska said regional inflation rates in Central and Eastern Europe as well as in North Macedonia had fallen into the single digits. This was a result of central banks' tight monetary policy and the worldwide stabilization of commodity prices, she said.

"In the region of Central and Eastern Europe, inflation has dropped from 16 to 5 percent," the central banker said. "Our country's situation is similar, given that the inflation rate has dropped to 3 percent from its highest level of some 20 percent."

She stressed that the latest inflationary shock was not of a typical monetary nature but that many factors were causing it – including disruptions in production, trade, transportation and energy prices, all contributing to rising inflation.

Angelovska Bezhoska said that despite central banks' tight monetary policy, the financial sector was stable as a result of measures taken by central banks to respond to the global financial crisis as well as the banks' stable balance sheets at the start of the crisis.

"The banks went into this crisis from a relatively solid position, with strong capital and layers of liquidity protection, which had been mainly built before the pandemic and have been maintained ever since," the National Bank Governor said. mr/