The National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia (NBRM) continues to make important strides to promote and improve financial education in Macedonia. On 19 December 2013, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by NBRM, along with other chief regulatory authorities such as Macedonia’s Ministry of Finance, with the intent to better enable the country’s institutions responsible for the regulation of financial services to increase the level of financial literacy among the population through joint efforts and projects.

“It is in our interest to have a population that will know and understand the financial services that they use and will not expose themselves to unnecessary risks,” said Dimitar Bogov, Governor at NBRM. “This way we will contribute to minimization and avoidance of the risks in the financial sector, and at the same time we will create and build a more stable financial sector.”

Macedonia Minister of Finance Zoran Stavreski stressed that financial education is highly important in the nation. “This will help increase the levels of financial literacy in Macedonia, and we will join European trends that began, especially during the financial crisis, to increase the levels of financial literacy and the reduction of risks,” said Mr. Stavreski.

In addition to NBRM – the Alliance for Financial Inclusion’s (AFI) first member from the Southeast Europe region – and the Ministry of Finance, the memorandum was also signed by the Insurance Supervision Agency, the Agency for Supervision of Fully Funded Pension Insurance, and the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Republic of Macedonia. The signatories agreed to form a Coordinating Body of the Regulatory Authorities for Financial Education in Macedonia which will:

• Launch initiatives for relevant institutions to adopt legislation that supports financial education in the nation;
• Define and propose joint financial education projects;
• Develop strategic documents;
• Organize, implement and evaluate surveys covering the level of financial literacy in Macedonia, as well as the level of financial inclusion of the population in the nation’s financial system;
• Organize working sessions, seminars, training courses and other events;
• Promote regional and international cooperation.

The development of strategic documents will be based on internationally accepted principles of financial education from the G-20’s most advanced economies in addition to various multilateral institutions and organizations.

NBRM’s participation in the memorandum is in line with its overall mission to maintain financial stability and contribute to the increase of the economic well-being and higher living standards for citizens of Macedonia.