ZAGREB, May 8, 2019 – Croatian National Bank (HNB) governor Boris Vujčić said on Wednesday the HNB would continue to provide expert assistance and technical support to central banks in the Western Balkans so as to help them adjust to standards on which the European Union insists.
Vujčić is part of Croatia’s delegation attending the annual assembly of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) held in Sarajevo. The meeting is focused on the situation in the Western Balkans, namely its political and economic prospects.
Commenting on the event, Vujčić told Hina that from the point of view of Croatia’s interest it was good that the EBRD concentrated on the Western Balkans, as this region was Croatia’s immediate neighbourhood.
“Croatia is today and will be in the future one of the man links between the European Union and the Western Balkans,” Vujčić said.
He added that Croatia was prepared to share its experience from absorbing money from EBRD funds with its neighbours. The HNB, within the frameworks of EU assistance programmes, is supporting the central banks of Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and soon, probably, North Macedonia.
“Our involvement in the region in that regard is very, very great,” Vujčić said.
According to him, the participants in the EBRD annual assembly will also discuss a strategy of the EBRD’s future activities. One of the important tasks of the EBRD is to finance infrastructure projects and thus create prerequisites for economic development. This was the case in Croatia as well.
Owing to the level of its development, Croatia is no longer in the focus of the EBRD, which over the past years spread its operations to Mongolia and Africa.
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