TIRANA, October 2 – The governor of the Bank of Albania, Gent Sejko, participated in the annual summit of the countries held in the region Becic, Montenegro, which was also attended by the governors of the central banks of Montenegro, Kosovo, Croatia, North Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Slovenia.
In his main speech at the Summit on “Monetary Policy in an Inflationary Environment”, Governor Sejko underlined that despite the successive shocks that have occurred in recent years, the Albanian economy has continued to expand at a satisfactory pace. Although the challenges will be considerable, the expectations are positive and the economic growth of Albania this year is expected to fluctuate around 4%, while the growth is expected to slow down to 2-3% in the following years.
Touching upon the position of the monetary policy of the countries of the region, the Governor stressed that it is influenced in some way by the position followed by the central banks such as the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank.
Like all central banks in the world, the Balkan countries are facing the challenge of high inflation. He argued that central banks can effectively anchor inflation expectations by clearly communicating their decisions, using a credible monetary policy framework and protecting their independence.
Further the BoA Governor answered questions of participants, where in particular the issue of the exchange rate in Albania and the performance of the local currency presented interest. Regarding this, the Governor first emphasized that Albania has a free exchange rate regime, so it is completely determined by market demand and supply.
Sejko stated that the strengthening of the local currency has so far been directly related to seasonal factors, where the impact of tourism can be singled out, but also the increase in exports in the country. /Argumentum.al
