Gent Sejko: Build your future, be smart about money Address by Mr Gent Sejko, Governor of the Bank of Albania, at the opening ceremony of the Global Money Week 2022 "Build your future, be smart about money", Pristina, 24 March 2022. * * * Honourable Minister of Education and Sports, Dear Chairman of the Albanian Association of Banks, Dear students, teachers, friends and banker colleagues, I have the pleasure to welcome you to the launching ceremony of the Global Money Week 2022. For more than a decade this global awareness-raising campaign brings together pupils, students, teachers and bankers. Each March, the Bank of Albania in cooperation with the Albanian Association of Banks, and the outstanding support of the Ministry of Education and Sports, organises educational and awareness-raising activities tailored to different age groups of pupils and students. Last year, due to the difficult situation caused from the COVID-19 pandemic, the launching ceremony and all the programmed activities in the framework of the Global Money Week, took place virtually, in compliance with the social distancing protocol. Notwithstanding these circumstances, the programme was successfully accomplished. Meanwhile, this year, the physical presence of participants, makes our educational activities more productive. For this reason, I am very happy we are back to normality, and welcoming you, as traditionally, in our historic hall, the Bank of Albania’s Museum premises. The Albanian public and particularly, young people are familiar with the Global Money Week.

First, I would like to emphasise the importance of using the national currency against foreign currencies. Lek plays a crucial and direct role in transmitting the positive effects of monetary policy to our economy. The higher the use of Lek, the bigger is the part of economy which feels the effects of the central bank’s policies. Furthermore, the use of the national currency helps to amortise the shocks that steam from external sector through minimising the shocks on income, consumption and investments. The broad use of foreign currencies alongside the national one has important negative impacts, on both the effectiveness of economic policies and financial stability. Particularly, in this period, while global developments, ambiguity and the change in monetary policy stance may give rise to additional risks to the exchange rate. These risks destabilise and expose the balance sheets of private sector against the fluctuations of the exchange rate. In simple words, the less you use the foreign currency; the lower is the exposure to the exchange rate risk, which nowadays is even higher. The stability of financial institutions, enterprises and households contributes in the monetary policy pass through and macroeconomic stability. Second, I would like to re-emphasise the importance of growing and promoting financial literacy as a counter-response to informality. This objective belongs to the central banks, and to all economic agents, educational institutions and media, to enhancing financial awareness and ability of public. These joint efforts, in addition to strengthening the monetary policy effectiveness, directly affect the financial inclusions of population.