The World Bank Strongly Supports Montenegro in Building Sustainable and Inclusive Economic Growth
18/04/2026
During the third day of participation in the Annual IMF/World Bank Meetings in Washington, Minister of Finance Novica Vuković and the CBCG Governor Irena Radović and their teams held meetings with senior World Bank officials.
Discussions at meetings with the World Bank Vice President for Europe and Central Asia, Antonella Bassani, and World Bank Executive Director, Eugene Rhuggenaath, focused on the implementation of the Country Partnership Framework for Montenegro for 2025–2029. This framework represents a joint strategic document of the World Bank and the Government of Montenegro, defining priority areas in which the World Bank will support Montenegro during the specified period.
The importance of accelerating structural reforms, strengthening institutional capacity, and continuing investments in infrastructure, energy transition, and human capital development was emphasised as the foundation for long-term and inclusive growth. The significance of further strengthening the partnership was also highlighted, along with the need for more efficient use of available development funds to achieve measurable and sustainable economic outcomes.
Bassani underlined that the World Bank strongly supports reform processes in Montenegro, particularly those aimed at promoting sustainable and inclusive economic growth.
Expressing gratitude for the support of an important international partner, Minister Vuković stated that Montenegro has successfully absorbed the impact of global economic developments on its small and open economy, alongside stable and sustainable revenue growth driven by stronger tax categories, more efficient collection, and a broader tax base. He further noted that the results of responsible fiscal policy are clearly reflected, inter alia, in the significant reduction of public debt from 105% of GDP in 2020 to 63.5% in 2025, with net public debt at 53.6% of GDP.
Governor Radović also thanked Vice President Bassani and Director Rhuggenaath for the strong and continuous support of the World Bank to the modernisation of the payment system in Montenegro.
“The World Bank’s support represents an important pillar for the reform activities implemented by the CBCG in the payment systems area. The results we are recording today confirm that Montenegro, thanks to the CBCG’s dedicated work, cooperation with banks, and the support of our relevant partners, has made a significant step forward towards a modern, efficient, and European-interoperable payment system, to the benefit of citizens and the economy,” said Radović.
The Governor also informed her counterparts about the status of implementation of the TIPS Clone project, emphasising that it is progressing according to plan and that 20 July 2026 is scheduled as its launch date in Montenegro. This is a modern, European-interoperable instant payment system that will enable transactions to be executed in real time.
It was concluded that, alongside the full implementation of European standards in this area, this new phase of payment system modernisation will further strengthen Montenegro’s integration into the single European financial and economic market.