Governor and Vice Governor of the CBBH in Visit to the National Bank of Serbia

Governor of the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CBBH), Kemal Kozarić and Vice Governor of the CBBH, Ljubiša Vladušić have visited the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) today, on 07 December, and participated in the forum discussion with Governor of the National Bank of Serbia Radovan Jelašić and the senior management of the bank on the current issues related to both central banks.

The Governors exchanged information on the progress of the project of establishing the payment operations among Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, and they also used the opportunity to exchange experiences related to the behavior of the market in their countries in respect of recent price shocks at the world market.

One of the discussed issues was also a large credit expansion in the region, and the steps taken by central banks related to this issue. The CBBH has recently made a decision on increasing reserve requirement for commercial banks from 15% to 18%.

«We are aware that this decision by itself cannot force the banks to reduce the credit expansion, but it certainly sends a clear message both to banks and representatives of authorities», Governor Kozarić said.

He also informed the Governor of the NBS on the recently completed CBBH Needs Assessment Program and the experiences of the CBBH related to the realization of that program, as the next year the NBS will also go through that program.

A special focus in the discussions was on the successful cooperation which these two central banks have in the process of exchange of experiences, and the study visits of bank representatives related to the exchange of experience in the functioning of the vault and payment systems were mentioned. Such exchange of experience proved to be very successful, so their organization will be continued, as well as the expanding of the area of exchange of experience.

On this occasion, Governor of NBS, Jelašić gave Governor Kozarić a collection of coins and banknotes issued from 1918 to 1992, which will be a part of the permanent numismatic setting in the CBBH.

During the visit, Governor Kozarić gave a lecture on the subject «Models of Monetary Policy and Financial Sector in BH», which was attended by the students of the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade, and trainees and staff of the NBS.