The Central Bank of Montenegro’s Council adopted its Annual Report 2024 and issued a new Decision on Capital Adequacy of Credit Institutions, aligned with amendments to the Law on Credit Institutions and European Union rules, which transposes the EU’s CRR III regulation into the domestic framework. The Council also adopted the Financial Stability Report 2024 and the Price Stability Report 2024, and decided to grant a licence to the microcredit financial institution Flex Credit DOO Podgorica. The Annual Report describes positive banking sector trends in 2024, including growth in assets (7.7%), loans (13.3%), capital (8.6%) and deposits (6.7%), with non-performing loans and receivables at 3.5% of total loans and receivables as of 31 December 2024. It highlights payment system modernisation through Montenegro’s accession to the SEPA area in November 2024 and ongoing work on a national instant payment system via the TIPS clone project, alongside regulatory harmonisation with the EU acquis and work on sustainable finance, including a Financial Sector Roadmap towards Sustainable Finance and Guidelines for ESG Risks in Credit Institutions. The Financial Stability Report assessed systemic risks as moderate at end-2024, noting slightly more pronounced risk from global geopolitics and cyclical real estate risks, while the Price Stability Report recorded average inflation of 3.3% in January to December 2024 and projected 2025 inflation of 1.6% to 3.6%, with a central projection of 2.6%. Implementation of the capital adequacy decision is scheduled for 1 January 2026.

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