Gent Sejko: Bank of Albania's achievements in 2024
Address by Mr Gent Sejko, Governor of the Bank of Albania, at the end-of-year meeting
with the media and the Governor's Award ceremony, Tirana, 16 December 2024.
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Dear media representatives,
Dear students,
Dear participants,
Welcome to our traditional end-of-year meeting! The Bank of Albania holds this annual
event every end of year to extend our gratitude and to thank you, media colleagues, for
your work in conveying and communicating our policies and activities. As traditionally,
we also hand out the Governor's Award for the Best Diploma Thesis.
Dear journalists present here today, as well as all those who, for various reasons, were
unable to join us in this year-end celebration; throughout 2024, you have worked
tirelessly to transmit with objectivity, truthfulness, and in real time the entire activity of
the Bank of Albania. For this, I sincerely thank you! Through your work, the Bank of
Albania has been able to communicate to the public its decision-making in the field of
monetary policy and financial stability, announce regulatory amendments, and provide
the latest updates in the areas of banking supervision, payment systems, financial
education and inclusion, and financial digitalization. Your professionalism has enabled
us to have an effective communication, helping to transmit our policies in the economy,
and consequently, preserving price stability, financial sector stability, and
macroeconomic stability in the country.
New technological developments and global uncertainties render the communication of
central banks with the public even more important. For Albania, this communication
becomes even more valuable, as individuals are challenged by the unsatisfactory level
of financial literacy, particularly digital literacy. Nevertheless, thanks to your work and in
close collaboration with you, we have succeeded in conveying to the public the stance
and expected consequences of every policy undertaken, reflecting the truth and
eliminating any misinterpretation or deviation from it.
Since this is also our closing meeting for this year, I would like to briefly address some
of our most recent achievements and the challenges we are facing.
The latest data for 2024 on macroeconomic developments in Albania, show that the
positive performance of the economy coupled with the increased employment and
revenues, have led to elevated income for businesses and households, which in turn
are reflected in higher household's spending and business investments.
In parallel with these developments, inflation has been rapidly declining, fully recovering
from the shock it experienced due to surge in prices in international markets, and
reached 2% in November 2024. This return to price stability has been accompanied by
a reduction in the cost of living for households and an increase in business investments.
Also, overall inflationary pressures have been reduced, on the back of declined inflation
in trading partners, appreciated exchange rate and the normalization of monetary policy
stance over the past two years.
During 2024, the Bank of Albania has achieved significant progress in two key initiatives
in the areas of payments and banking supervision: joining SEPA on November 21,
2024, and advancing open banking. Participation in SEPA will enable the conduction of
cross-border financial transfers with European Union countries, making them faster and
at lower costs - an important step towards economic integration and improving services
for businesses and consumers. Also, the Bank of Albania, in line with EU regulations,
has advanced in implementing open banking, by promoting the use of digital platforms
with the aim of enhancing financial inclusion and establishing a more open ecosystem
for clients and businesses. Open banking will empower citizen with higher and more
transparent access to financial services. This development is part of a broader strategy
to improve financial infrastructure and digitalize the economy.
Both initiatives aim to expand financial inclusion, by directly contributing to the reduction
of informality, in turn supporting long-term sustainable growth.
Regarding the future, our forecasts remain positive, mainly based on positive
developments in terms of economic activity growth. The financial environment,
characterized by ample liquidity, relatively low and stable interest rates, and contained
risk premiums, thus transforming bank credit into an important and reliable source of
financing for the Albanian economy, has played an important role in this regard. To this
end, the Bank of Albania will continue to remain vigilant to accurately reacting and in
timely manner to the economic and financial developments.
Concluding, I would like to shift the focus to an 18-year tradition that enriches this
annual event of the Bank of Albania. I have the pleasure to present the winners of the
Governor's Award for the Best Diploma Thesis.
This activity, invites Albanian students from all over the world to present their work in
the field of economics and finance. This year 24 participants have participated in this
competition with impressive papers. I am delighted to note that the topics addressed in
these studies are related to the traditional objectives and policies of central banks, but
at the same time, many of them have focused on issues that have dominated the
activity of the Bank of Albania over 2024. The authors have addressed problems related
to climate change, financial education and inclusion of the population, and payment
systems. This attention inspires us to do more in these areas in the future.
2025 will be a jubilee year for us, as it marks the 100th anniversary of our central bank.
In the context of this anniversary, some of the topics have focused on the field of
historical research, analysing the character and evolution of trade agreements, as well
as monetary and financial developments. I am pleased to say that the topics align with
our expectations and meet the best characteristics of scientific work. They remain
focused on the real problems of the economy and finance, hence embodying a
particular value for the authorities and the private sector. I thank all the participants in
this competition and their mentors for the attention given to issues of interest to the
central bank.
We, the members of the selection committee, have the pleasure of reading the papers,
but at the same time, we also faced the difficulty of selecting three winners among
them. After many discussions, the committee reached a unanimous decision on the
winners of the Governor's Award for the Best Diploma Thesis, who will be presented
below. I congratulate the winners and encourage all applicants to continue showing the
same dedication and intellectual ambition in the future!