The National Bank of the Republic of North Macedonia published an update on its statistics agenda following discussions with International Monetary Fund (IMF) Statistics Director Albert Kruse, who gave a positive assessment of the quality, coverage and timeliness of the Bank’s published data and noted alignment with the IMF’s Special Data Dissemination Standard Plus (SDDS Plus) and the Bank’s data release calendar. The Bank highlighted steps to improve public communication of statistics and the expansion of its financial accounts dataset since October 2024 to include quarterly and annual consolidated positions, with sectoral financial flows data planned by the end of 2025. It also reported shorter compilation and transmission timelines for monthly balance of payments data and quarterly international investment position data sent to Eurostat in line with European Union requirements, and the start of voluntary exchange of interest rate data with the European Central Bank. Work to digitise reporting and reduce reporting burden is continuing, including simplified bank reporting for cross-border payment transactions aligned with Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) standards and the near-completion of activities under the ISIDORA project to establish a detailed reporting system for statistical and supervisory needs. Methodological improvements for remittances and other balance of payments components are being developed with the IMF, including an estimation model submitted to the Fund, while separate meetings with the IMF’s Monetary and Capital Markets Department and Legal Department covered potential technical assistance on strengthening the monetary framework, monetary policy analytical tools and the associated regulatory set-up.

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