The Governor of the Central Bank of Montenegro (CBCG), Irena Radović, has expressed support for the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) initiative to establish a Regional Technical Assistance Center for Southeast Europe.
The Center would provide comprehensive support to Western Balkan countries and Moldova in strengthening capacities in key areas of economic governance.
Radović stated that the initiative is crucial for the further institutional development and economic progress of the region, as well as for enhancing resilience in an increasingly complex global environment.
According to the CBCG, Radović attended a high-level meeting in Washington during the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings, following an invitation from the Director of the IMF’s European Department, Alfred Kammer, where discussions on the initiative took place.
The proposed Center would offer technical assistance in five main areas: fiscal policy, monetary and financial sector policy, macroeconomic statistics, macroeconomic modeling, and legal aspects including fiscal and financial law, as well as anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CFT).
CBCG also reported that Radović participated in a meeting organized by the IMF with central bank governors and finance ministers from European countries. Discussions focused on the challenges posed by the evolving global environment, including rising energy prices, fiscal pressures, and trade uncertainties, along with measures to reduce uncertainty and promote sustainable economic growth in the region.
On the final day of her visit to Washington, Radović took part in a meeting of the Vienna Initiative’s Supervisory Board, where current challenges facing countries in the process of joining the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) were discussed.
The discussion centered on regulatory, technical, and infrastructural aspects of SEPA accession, as well as the role of international partners in supporting the full integration of the region’s countries into the European payment space.
