English

Montenegro to speed up activities in order to get World Bank guarantees

It is necessary to accelerate all the activities so that Montenegro can be given guarantees of the World Bank for the development policy (PBG2) by the end of this year, it was concluded in the meeting between Montenegrin delegation with the representatives of the World Bank and IMF, which is taking place in Washington.

On the first day of the annual meetings of IMF and the World Bank, Montenegrin delegation, headed by Finance Minister, Mr Darko Radunović, and Governor of the Central Bank of Montenegro, Mr Radoje Žugić, met with the vice-presidents of the World Bank’s Europe and Central Asia region, Mr Cyril Muller, CEO of the World Bank and Chief of the IMF mission for Montenegro, Mr Srikant Seshadri.

“They discussed macroeconomic and fiscal trends in Montenegro, and particularly, strong economic growth, mainly driven by investment spending and export of tourism services”, the statement said.

Mr Muller congratulated Ministry of Finance on its very successful issue of Eurobonds aimed at refinancing part of the public debt in 2020, as well as on the progress made in the implementation of all projects in Montenegro financed by the WB.

Mr Žugić presented to his interlocutors the latest indicators of business activities of Montenegrin banks. With growth in assets, loans, capital and deposits, banking system is characterized by profitability and minimum level of poor-quality loans.

“In the forthcoming period, Central Bank of Montenegro will be focused on the implementation of asset quality review (AQR), further improvement of the regulations, strengthening supervision and modernization of payment system”, pointed out Mr Žugić.

Mr Muller congratulated the CB on considerable success in the recovery of vulnerable banks.

Mr Seshadri welcomed successful issue of Eurobonds that attracted a great number of investors  from different countries in the world.

“Mr Seshadri stressed the importance of further implementation of structural reforms in the field of tax policy, through adoption of the new law”, the statement said.

Mr Seshadri praised the progress CB made in the adoption of IMF recommendations and implementation of the recently adopted macro-prudential measures.

“They particularly commended reforms implemented with the aim of strengthening institutional framework and capacities for the prevention of money laundering and financing terrorism. CB initiative for the implementation of key FSAP recommendation was given full support- asset quality review of all banks and adoption of key laws (law on credit institutions, recovery of credit institutions and protection of deposits)” , the statement reads.

Send this to a friend