Governor Softić in Brussels: Reforms Necessary for Raising Standards

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Governor of the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CBBH) Senad Softić is attending a meeting as part of the regular annual Economic and Financial Dialogue between the European Union and the countries of the Western Balkans and Turkey, held today, May 17, 2019, in Brussels, Kingdom of Belgium. The meeting is dedicated to dialogue on economic policies and the progress of the Economic Reform Program (ERP) implementation process. This process enables candidate and potential candidate countries from the Western Balkans and Turkey to engage in dialogue and reach joint conclusions on economic, fiscal, and structural measures with EU institutions, in a manner very similar to that applied to European Union member states.

In his address, Governor Softić emphasized the importance of this process and the fact that progress is being recorded in the implementation of the ERP, despite the fact that the process itself involves the simultaneous implementation of multiple reforms whose results must be in line with EU regulations.

“A stable monetary policy and financial system should support the achievement of better economic performance, and the CBBH is maximally committed to achieving this goal. The existing monetary policy model is successful, and our financial sector is continuously strengthening,” said Governor Softić, adding that monetary and fiscal policies alone are not sufficient, and that structural reforms must continue to be implemented to raise citizens' living standards.

The CBBH, for its part, the Governor stated, has taken several steps during this period to implement recommendations from previous joint conclusions, including the development of new statistical categories and analytical tools, and the improvement of the analytical framework for projections.

One of the topics at the meeting was attracting foreign direct investment, where Governor Softić emphasized that Bosnia and Herzegovina's potential was recognized during the Annual Meeting and EBRD Business Forum, recently held in Sarajevo, which was very successful, among other things, in terms of promoting and attracting future investments in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Furthermore, past practice shows that most foreign investors remain in Bosnia and Herzegovina and reinvest profits generated from previous investments, which is a sign of an improved business environment.

At the end of his presentation, the Governor thanked the EU institutions, the ECB, and the ESCB for their selfless expert and financial assistance, without which it would be very difficult to implement the process of necessary reforms. Representatives of EU countries, the Western Balkans, and Turkey, as well as representatives of the European Commission (EC) and the European Central Bank (ECB), are participating in the dialogue.