Governor Selimović is a Keynote Speaker at Prestigious „Central Banking Autumn Meetings“ in Mexico

The Governor of the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CBBH), Jasmina Selimović, Ph.D., is attending the prestigious "Central Banking Autumn Meetings" held on 13 and 14 November 2024 in Mexico City (Mexico), organised by the Central Banking.

The first part of the conference was dedicated to the foreign exchange reserves management, with a special focus on key issues such as the evaluation of market performance and macroeconomic environment, the exploring of asset allocation strategies and investment timeframes, and the analysis of global changes and their effect on financial markets.

Governor Selimović gave an introductory speech, as a Keynote Speaker, stressing the importance of central banks adjustments to the challenges of the changing global market. "The Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina, through its activities, strives to preserve the foreign exchange reserves stability and improve the reserve management strategies, which contributes to the stability of the country's financial system," said the Governor.

She particularly pointed out that "the coverage ratio is the most important indicator of the domestic currency stability within the currency board."

"By timely recognition of future developments and boldly adopting adequate measures, well before other central banks reacted and before the ECB increased interest rates, the CBBH managed to significantly change the position and structure of its portfolio, which had remarkable results," said Selimović, Ph.D. As a result, the Governor added, the CBBH is expecting an increase of the coverage ratio to over 108% in 2024, as well as realistically expecting a significant financial performance for 2024.

„In 2024, the CBBH has taken steps to adapt to the new cycle, i.e. the transition of the leading central banks' monetary policies from restrictive to expansionary, with the expected interest rate decrease," the Governor said. She explained that the duration of the total foreign exchange reserves portfolio has been extended accordingly. Also, recognizing the importance of the ESG criteria, she said that the CBBH has invested a part of its foreign exchange reserves in green bonds of the EMU member states. During this year, with the aim of further improving the reserve management process, the CBBH has become a member of the World Bank's RAMP programme, as well as a member of the NGFS and SBFN organisations, thus further strengthening its commitment to the ESG principles, said Selimović, Ph.D.

This appearance on the international scene, the Governor concluded, further confirms the CBBH engagement in improving the reserve policy and keeping up with the global trends, which is a key to strengthening the stability and security of BH economy.