Dimitar Bogov: Improving education and access for children and youth to financial services Address by Mr Dimitar Bogov, Governor of the National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia, at the 3rd Annual Regional Meeting for Europe and Central Asia (ECA), Skopje, 2–3 October 2014. *  *  *  Dear Ministers, Esteemed guests, Dear ladies and gentlemen, It is my honor and privilege to welcome you all here in Skopje, Macedonia to this important event for the region of Europe and Central Asia. The aim of this meeting is to gather together in one place the regional leading policy-makers, financial institutions and experts that are engaged in the issues of children and youth access to financial services, financial inclusion and financial education, employability and entrepreneurship opportunities, to share success stories and challenges. There has been some progress made in these fields because of the existence of international movements such as Child and Youth Finance International that are keen to develop a generation that will be better prepared to prevent future financial crisis by increasing the financial education, access to finance, employability and entrepreneurship skills of children and youth. On a global level, significant progress has been achieved in advancing the mentioned priorities. Important steps have already been made in the area of improving access to financial services in the previous years. Access needs to be complemented by the quality of the financial services. The quality of financial services and the participation in the financial system is equally important for all participants in the system.
In the case of Albania, as in many other developing countries, remittances enter the country by either formal or informal means. The most recent surveys show that only 22.6 percent of emigrants prefer to use official means, whereas 77.4 percent turn to unofficial channels – in most cases by themselves. The official network includes the commercial banks and money transfer companies, the activity of which is regulated and supervised by BoA. Money transfer companies (Western Union and Money Gram) have played a significant role in transferring remittances from the beginning of their activity in the 90s. Their wide geographical extension throughout the country covering also many rural areas has complemented adequately the rather slow expansion of the banking sector in facilitating money transfers. Lately, the official network has gained considerable grounds over the informal ways in terms of total transfers carried out. The volume of remittances channelled via official means in 2004 is estimated to have been around 46 percent of the total, as opposed to just 12 percent - the average for the period 1994-1996. It seems the official network has earned Albanian emigrants’ trust for transferring their money. The development of the financial system in Albania it’s a key factor in explaining the movement of transfers toward official means. Thus, only during 2004, there have been 30 new branches and banking agencies opened throughout the country. Nevertheless, the unofficial flows remain still high, accounting for more than half of the total volume.