Ardian Fullani: Recent economic developments in Albania Speech by Mr Ardian Fullani, Governor of the Bank of Albania, at the press conference on monetary policy decision-making of the Supervisory Council of the Bank of Albania, Tirana, 24 March 2010. *  *  *  The Supervisory Council of the Bank of Albania, in its meeting of 24 March 2010, analyzed and adopted the Monetary Policy Monthly Report. Given the latest economic and monetary developments at home, their projections in future and after assessing the balance of expected risks, the Supervisory Council of the Bank of Albania, at the conclusion of discussions decided to leave the key interest rate unchanged, at 5.25%. After the heavy shock incurred over 2008 and during the first six months of 2009, the world economy has entered into a recovery stage of the economic activity, stimulated by the expansionist monetary and fiscal policy. The main central banks continued to follow an easing monetary polices with the purpose to sustain lending market and to guarantee the economic stability growth. The end of economic recession is accompanied by the invigoration of inflationary pressures, thus reflecting both statistical impact related to the performance of basic commodity prices, as well the demand growth in the world economy. The performance of financial markets was stable and the main indicators of risk are stabilized at lower rates. Notwithstanding, the attention of financial markets is dominated by the increase of uncertainty in terms of fiscal stability of some euro area countries.

Mugur Isărescu: Romania - post-crisis performance and current challenges Speech by Mr Mugur Isărescu, Governor of the National Bank of Romania, at the AmCham CEO Forum, Bucharest, 31 May 2019. * * * Accompanying slides of the speech. Ladies and gentlemen, I am honoured to address, this morning, such a distinguished audience. I have gladly accepted your kind invitation, for AmCham Romania has become, during the last 25 years, an important voice of the business community, speaking on behalf of many US-based, international and local companies that are doing business in Romania, and promoting its members’ best practices. 1. GROWTH, CONVERGENCE AND SUSTAINABILITY I am aware that, when talking to business community representatives, more than to other categories of public, the topic of economic growth, with all its determinants, trends, uncertainties and tensions, is of great interest. Indeed, Romania’s post-crisis performance has been impressive: average annual growth rate of 4.6 percent in the last five years. Romania’s economy is constantly growing, yet some tensions surround the macroeconomic equilibria. The advance seen in recent years was primarily driven by consumption that benefited from a loose fiscal and income policy, coupled with a tight labour market profile, which additionally spurred wage growth. The pass-through of consumption to output was nevertheless limited by the weak competitiveness position of some local industries on the domestic market, so that high consumption rates were accompanied by strong imports. Thus, in spite of high export growth rates, net external demand has not made a positive contribution to the GDP advance since 2013.