Speaking about the Macedonian economy and countries from Western Balkan region in terms of facing the new global cycle, we have to mention some strong points and some still existing weaknesses. Generally, sound and stable banks have additionally strengthened due to the new capital requirements during the last several years, as well as due to the stronger efforts for better nonperforming loans management and resolution. Current account deficit region-wide has reduced as a result of the favorable price impact, in line with commodity prices slowdown and in the Macedonian case, due to the contribution of new companies with foreign capital that significantly changed our export structure into higher value added products. We have seen positive results in the dealing with unemployment as one of the main problems in the region. In Macedonia, it has significantly reduced due to new jobs creation, measures against informal economy and active labor market measures. However, the countries of the region should continue strengthening their potential growth, productivity and competitiveness. The total factor productivity growth in many emerging economies registered a slowdown during the crisis mainly reflecting the slower growth and technological progress in advanced economies. However, the emerging economies must strengthen their activities towards higher efficiency on all levels of operation, building institutional capacity and further implementation of structural reforms that all together should improve total factor productivity contribution and boost the overall convergence towards advanced economies.
Dimitar Bogov: Around a decade after the crisis - heading to the new global cycle and monetary policy normalization Opening speech by Mr Dimitar Bogov, Governor of the National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia, at the 7th Annual Research Conference: Around a Decade after the Crisis: Heading to the New Global Cycle and Monetary Policy Normalization, Ohrid, 12 April 2018. * * *  Honorable Governors, Your Excellences, Dear representatives of central banks, Ladies and gentlemen Let me welcome you all to our 7th Annual Research Conference this year in the beautiful city of Ohrid. Considering the current global surrounding, this year’s conference “Around a Decade after the Crisis: Heading to the New Global Cycle and Monetary Policy Normalization” addresses a relatively long period since the onset of the global crisis and the need to face new challenges. At this point, the questions to ask ourselves and to discuss during the conference would be: how strong and sustainable is the ongoing global recovery, what are the reasons behind the subdued inflation, what should be the pace of monetary policy normalization, are the banks now more resilient, are we better prepared to prevent the risks? Maybe they are simple questions, however, like in many other cases in real life and a real economic framework, there are no simple answers. The current global economic recovery is broadly spread across different regions in the world and associated with positive economic sentiment indicators.