The CBBH Governor at the Meeting of Dutch-Belgian Contituency of the IMF and WB

Governor of the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina Senad Softić, Ph. D. attended a meeting of the Dutch-Belgian Constituency of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB), which was held from 3 to 5 June 2016, in Kiev, Ukraine.

The meeting was focused on the current economic and financial topics in the members of the constituency, and some of the topics were how to ensure stronger economic future of the constituency in transition circumstances, and economic implications of the movement of refugees. Within the session on the movement of commodity prices in the global market, especially oil, the focus was on the different impacts of these developments on the member countries of the constituency, and the importance of economic diversity and stability of the financial sector for the strengthening of these different economies has been stressed.

The IMF has more than 180 member countries and only the largest countries have their representatives in the Board of Executive Directors of the IMF, while other countries are divided into constituencies (electoral groups). Bosnia and Herzegovina is in the Dutch-Belgian constituency, which has the total of 15 countries: Armenia, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Georgia, Croatia, Israel, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Moldova, the Netherlands, Romania and Ukraine.

Constituency meetings are held every year in one of the member countries. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss issues relevant for the member countries of the constituency. It is also an opportunity for the Ministers of Finance and Governors of Central Banks of the member countries of the constituency to discuss economic and financial issues, as well as the topics which the constituency should have its attitude about at the meetings of the IMF and the WB.

On the margins of the meeting of the constituency, Governor Softić spoke with the First Deputy Director of the IMF David Lipton and Executive Director of the IMF Menno Snell, and with representatives of the Dutch National Bank, Governor has talked about providing technical assistance to the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina.