The National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia (NBRM) announces a call for papers for the 3rd Annual Research Conference, on the occasion of celebrating the anniversary of the monetary independence. The Conference will take place in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia, on April 28-29, 2014. It aims to bring researchers from academia and policy-making institutions into one place, with a sole purpose to enable a ground for a debate on relevant economic issues.

Acknowledging the need to speed up and sustain the economic growth, as a current challenge pertinent for many economies, this year's conference topic is titled "Towards recovery and sustainable growth in the altered global environment". Distinguished guest speakers from the central banks, academic or policy-making institutions will give keynote lectures at the Conference. The papers submitted for the conference should ideally deal with the following issues:

• Recovery in the global economy and in the economies of the region
• FDI and exports as sources of growth - prospects and challenges
• Fiscal multipliers, public debt and fiscal consolidation
• Non standard monetary policy measures - effectiveness and duration
• Macro-prudential policies
• Credit portfolio quality during the crisis, its perspectives and lending dynamics
• Bank lending and spillovers to the real sector
• Structural reforms and reforms in the financial system
• Income inequality

The organizing team would like to invite all researchers from academic and policy-making institutions to submit paper proposals. We solicit high-quality submissions, both theoretical and empirical papers related to the non-exclusive list of broad topics suggested above. Interested researchers should submit their papers or extended proposals (min 500 words), together with a short CV, by e-mail at conference2014@nbrm.mk, no later than February 15, 2014.  Authors of the accepted papers will be notified no later than March 10, 2014. The conference version of the paper and the presentation are expected by April 10 and April 20, 2014, respectively.

Please note that the NBRM will cover accommodation expenses for the selected speakers. The selected papers will be published in the Conference Proceedings Volume, subject to author/institution permission.