Macedonia Bank Chief Calms Euro Fears

National Bank of Macedonia | Photo by: Balkan Insight

Following a trend seen in much of the rest of the world, some Macedonians are selling euros and buying US dollars and Swiss francs while some are switching investments to Macedonia's own currency, the denar.
 
As worries over the future of the single currency grow, more and more people are seeking advice from banks and heading to exchange offices, bank employees say.

“In the last few days our clients are more nervous than usual, asking us what to do, and whether to keep their euros or sell them,” a staffer in NLB Tutunska Banka, one of the biggest banks in Macedonia, told Balkan Insight.

The same source said there was no panic but some clients have already swapped savings to US dollar and Swiss franc accounts, even though the interest rates on them were significantly lower than for savings in euros.

To calm fears, the head of the National Bank of Macedonia, NBM, Dimitar Bogov, insisted that people’s savings were secure in spite of the euro uncertainty. “There is no place for fear,” Bogov said.

Macedonia’s denar is directly tied to the euro, which some see as worrying if the euro crumbles.

Governor Dimitar Bogov says savings are safe | Photo by: NBM

But, speaking to the newspaper Kapital, the bank chief said that, “even if the euro collapses, we will immediately tie our national currency to the [reborn] Deutschmark as the most stable [currency]”.

According to current exchange rates, Bogov said one euro would be worth 1.96 Deutschmarks, identical with the exchange rate in 2002, when the euro was first introduced.

Ljube Trpeski, an economics professor and former head of the National Bank, said that recent jitters in Macedonia “and exchanges of euros for dollars and franks are happening all over the world”.

Trpeski praised last week's move by the big world banks to ease liquidity problems. But observers say this was only a short term solution and expect more decisive steps.