Doris Pack, Member of the European Parliament, Visiting the CBBH

Today, on April 27, 2009 the member of the European Parliament and the Presiding of the Delegation for the Relations with South-East European countries, Mrs. Doris Pack visited the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CBBH), where she met the  Governor,  Kemal Kozarić, Ph.D. and his associates.

During the talks with the Governor Kozarić, Mrs. Pack showed the interest for the CBBH activities, influence of the global financial crisis on BH, cooperation of the CBBH with the European Central Bank (ECB) and the activities in banking and real sector in BH.

The Governor pointed out that the monetary stability, based on the currency board arrangement, is the main factor  mitigating   the effects of the global markets crisis on the financial stability and the public finances of BH, and that the conservative approach to monetary policy running enabled to the BH banking sector to overcome successfully the challenges, brought in front of it by the global financial crisis.

However, the Governor added that the real sector of the economy will have far more problems in facing the consequences of the financial crisis than the financial sector, which is seen the most obviously through the big lowering of the projections for Gross domestic product (GDP) growth, which from the initial growth of 3.5% lowered to the negative zone -1,8%. The Governor emphasized that in the international markets there was the decrease of demand for our biggest exporters' products, which resulted in fall of numerous work posts and lower public revenues.

Therefore, he pointed out the significance of achieving the budget sustainability at all levels in this year, and emphasized that he hopes that the agreement will be reached with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) related to the Stand-by arrangement. "This arrangement should help in achieving the fiscal sustainability, but it is necessary to continue with the reforms in the budget consumption area, " the Governor pointed out, while informing Mrs. Pack on the participation of the CBBH officials in the IMF negotiations.

Mrs. Pack was also informed on the completed program of the Euro system on the CBBH needs assessment, which was successfully done with the ECB. This program gave to us the clear evaluation of the present situation in our institution, which was estimated as extremely well, but it also provided the road map giving clear instructions on  what additionally should be done to achieve the EU standards», the Governor said and added that in the forthcoming period, the CBBH will continue to cooperate with the EU institutions through the realization of the IPA program.

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