Angellovska-Bezhoska: Foreign exchange reserves are higher compared to the pre-pandemic period

The Governor of the National Bank, Anita Angellovska-Bezhoska, during her participation in the "Morning Briefing" show on "Slobodna TV", emphasized that foreign exchange reserves are the most important factor for maintaining the stability of the local currency and that in the past period, despite the crises, they have increased almost continuously, as a guarantee for maintaining the exchange rate.

Angellovska-Bezhoska said that the increase in foreign exchange reserves is due to the central bank's purchase of foreign exchange in the foreign exchange market, which has been occurring almost continuously since mid-2023.

"In total, over the last two years, we as the central bank have purchased 750 million euros in the foreign exchange market, which has fully offset the amount used for intervention in the foreign exchange market during the pandemic and during the energy shock. All this clearly speaks of the establishment of strong protective mechanisms against possible risks and shocks in the future, all this to further maintain the stability of the local currency exchange rate," said Angellovska-Bezhoska.

The Governor also emphasizes that foreign direct investment undoubtedly has a positive contribution to the growth of foreign exchange reserves.

"In the pre-pandemic period, foreign direct investment reached about 3,5% of GDP, on average, after the slowdown during the pandemic, a gradual recovery process followed, while last year during the first three quarters it reached 5% of GDP, which is a solid level according to historical parameters," Angellovska-Bezhoska emphasized. She adds that foreign direct investment is not only important for increasing the foreign exchange potential in our economy, but in general for the investment cycle and for faster growth of the income level, which is unfortunately still low in our country.

Angellovska-Bezhoska emphasized that for achieving the highest economic growth, solid credit support for citizens and companies from the banking sector is important, whose stability and lending capacity has been strengthened despite the crisis period, while capital is higher in the last two decades. This, among other things, is due to the measures taken by the central bank. The Governor emphasized that an important role in increasing investments is played by the growth of green lending, which has doubled from 2,2% to 4,4% in recent years, "says the National Bank.