The National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia (Macedonian: Народна банка на Република Македонија, Narodna Banka na Republika Makedonija, NBRM) is the central bank of the Republic of Macedonia, located in the capital city, Skopje.

The current Governor of the NBRM is Dimitar Bogov, since May 21, 2011.

Functions
According to the law on the National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia, the National Bank shall perform the following functions:

• establish and conduct the monetary policy;
• regulate the liquidity in the international payments;
• establish and conduct the Denar exchange rate policy;
• handle and manage the foreign exchange reserves; regulate the payment system;
• grant founding and operating license to a bank and a savings house and supervise the banks and savings houses;
• grant a license for performing services of prompt money transfer and supervise the operations of the entities performing services of prompt money transfer in accordance with a law;
• grant operating license to foreign exchange bureaus and supervise their operations in accordance with a law; issue banknotes and coins;
• perform activities for the account of the central government and the government administration bodies.

Transparency
The Central Bank transparency is guaranteed by the following provisions and activities:

Appointing and relieving from office of the governor (Article 70, Law on the National Bank of the Republic f Macedonia);

The authorized committees of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia call a meeting with the governor at least once in six months in order to obtain information about the operations of the National Bank (Article 55-a, Law on the National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia);

Submission of the semi-annual and the annual report on the operations, semi-annual and annual report on the supervision and the undertaken measures against banks and savings houses and semi-annual and annual report on managing the foreign exchange reserves of the National Bank to the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia. The National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia is obliged to publish all these reports within six months from the date of expiry of the period for which the reports were prepared (Article 55, Law on the National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia);

Publication of the monetary policy objectives;

Publication of the monetary policy intermediary target (nominal exchange rate of the Denar against the Euro);

Transparency in conducting the monetary policy (explanation of measures and changes);

Compulsory publication of the Decisions of the National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia Council in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia (Article 65, Law on the National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia);

Publication of the audit report on the Annual statement of the National Bank, (Article 94, Law on the National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia);

Timely processing and dissemination of information (Articles 40 and 41, Law on the National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia).

Monetary Policy
In order to achieve price stability as the main objective of the monetary policy, NBRM uses various monetary instruments. Having in mind that the relationship between the instruments and the ultimate goal of the monetary policy is complex and indirect with a time lag, NBRM monitors the movement of certain economic variables - operational and intermediate targets. Operational targets are more easily controlled, but they are afar from the ultimate objective, while the intermediate targets are more difficult to control, but they are closer to the ultimate objective. By managing the level of the interest rates, and hence the level of liquidity in the banking system, NBRM strives to influence the level of the exchange rate, as an intermediate target of the monetary policy.

Most flexible of the NBRM instruments are the open market operations, which, depending on the liquidity in the overall banking system, could be carried out by issuing NBRM securities - CB bills auctions, or by temporary or outright purchasing or selling securities. Reserve requirement is a standard instrument through which NBRM directly influences the money and credit supply. In order to overcome the short-term liquidity shortage of the banks at the end of the day, NBRM extends overnight credit. In conditions of short-term excess liquidity, banks may place funds with the NBRM in overnight deposit facility and in seven-day deposit facility.

Useful links

Currency of Republic of Macedonia:

Macedonian denar

List of Central Banks:

Central Banks

Official website of National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia:

www.nbrm.mk

Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Macedonia:

www.finance.gov.mk

Macedonian Stock Exchange:

www.mse.mk