Foreword

Dear Colleagues,

Dear Friends,

It has been only one year since we announced the MNB Technical Cooperation Programme, yet we are already over our first year and drawing the conclusions. Despite the challenges central banks - and decision makers - face globally one thing remains unquestionable: the benefits of knowledge and the exponential value of its transfer among ourselves. In this spirit, I am pleased to announce that our international knowledge sharing programme continues in 2024 with a more developed and extended structure.

2024 is a particularly important year for the MNB as it provides a special occasion to commemorate: we celebrate the centenary of the establishment of the independent central bank of Hungary. Such milestones create great opportunities to take stock: as we are preparing for the challenges of the future we must look back to the past. This idea appears in our Technical Cooperation Programme for 2024 as well, as the theme “From Tradition to Innovation” suggests. The programme focuses on the duality of old and new, covering core central banking activities such as monetary policy crisis management and cash logistics, and the pioneering fields of central banking from green finances and digitalisation to financial infrastructures. As a consequence of the polycrisis of the past few years, strong, proactive and preventive economic policy measures as well as the development of the monetary policy crisis management toolkit have gained special importance. Moreover, in recent years, the strong impact of climate change on price stability, financial stability and convergence in economic development have also attracted the attention of central banks. In the decade of financial revolution, digitalisation undoubtedly shapes the financial system and pose challenges for all market participants including central banks. In terms of financial infrastructures, a new era began in payments with digitalisation and financial innovations.

These trends and challenges go well beyond national level, making international cooperation vital. Having realized this, the MNB has expanded the scope of its international activities significantly in the recent years. This manifested in enhanced engagement in multilateral dialogue, active participation in numerous international forums and intensified cooperation with our partners worldwide. We believe that in the 21st century, knowledge is the engine of growth and development, therefore knowledge-based cooperation will play an essential role in central banking as well. In this sense, technical cooperation is a realisation of a forward-looking, extensive international central bank strategy, based on mutual information sharing, trust and respect. We are determined to continue sharing our knowledge and best practices during our seminars in 2024 and learn from our peers worldwide.

György Matolcsy

Governor