Countercyclical capital buffer

The countercyclical capital buffer (CCyB) is introduced to mitigate financial procyclicality. This instrument creates an additional buffer of Common Equity Tier 1 capital during periods of excessive credit growth to improve the resilience of the banking sector and reduce the possibility of a financial crisis outbreak. A country’s CCyB rate can be set between 0% and 2.5%, and can be raised in stages by 0.25 pp or multiples of 0.25 pp. This rate can be higher in exceptional circumstances. Rates of this buffer are determined quarterly, based on the reference guide – deviation of the credit-to-GDP ratio from its long-term trend, taking account of other indicators relevant for monitoring the cyclical dimension of systemic risk.

A historical overview of CCyB rates for the Republic of Serbia

^{* Starting from March 2018, the buffer guide applied in setting the CCyB rate is the share of loans to the non-government sector in GDP. In the prior period, the buffer guide was the share of lending to the non-government sector in GDP, which, in addition to loans, included given deposits, investment, securities and other financial assets, interest, fees and commission receivables and other lending.}

^{** In late 2024, the Serbian Statistical Office revised the GDP data series starting from 1995. The real GDP deflator was calculated using 2021 as the benchmark year}

A comparative overview of CCyB rates by country is availabe at the ESRB website .