The Governor of the Bank of Albania (BoA), Gent Sejko, has stated that monetary policy and price stability are one of his priorities during his second term at the helm of the Central Bank in this Balkan country.
“As Governor of the Bank of Albania, I have taken care and will continue to take care that the amount and cost of money in the economy enable price stability, sustainable economic growth and improved welfare,” he said during the hearing in the Parliamentary Committee on Economy and Finances on Wednesday.
Sejko was decreed by the President on February 14 for a second term as Governor of the Bank of Albania. In the meantime prices have skyrocketed during the last month with some vital items increasing more than 20 percent.
According to him, in the short term the main challenge will be to address the inflationary pressures that come from rising prices from world markets and successful fulfillment will require the design of a more prudent and far-sighted monetary policy.
Sejko said that during the last mandate, the monetary policy of the Bank of Albania has made a significant qualitative leap.
Although the Albanian economy has faced a series of negative shocks because of the consequences of the global crisis as well as the impact of the earthquake and pandemic, inflation has been maintained at an average of 1.8 percent.
According to the BoA Governor, the Bank of Albania has coherently and consistently implemented the program of reduction of non-performing loans. “As a result, the ratio of non-performing loans has dropped to 5.4 percent from 25 percent in 2014,” he said. / Argumentum.al
