v.  Monetary and financial statistics  Last year was a successful one for the Bank of Albania in its role as one of the three national agencies producing statistics. Expanding statistical information, and perfecting some of the methodologies underlying the statistical product of the Bank of Albania have been evaluated positively by international institutions, making thus significant progress towards the approximation with Eurostat and IMF standards. In 2015, the Bank of Albania published, for the first time, the annual information on the flow of foreign direct investments by country, flow of foreign direct investments by economic activity and situation of foreign direct investments by country and economic activity. vi. Research  During 2015, the Bank of Albania completed over 20 empirical studies and analyses dedicated to problems and potential solutions for issues related monetary policy effectiveness and safeguarding financial stability. During 2015, the revaluation of the Macroeconometric Model of the Albanian Economy was completed. The process improved the identification and interpretation of cause-effect macroeconomic correlations. Research work has been presented in various events and conferences, including those organised by the Bank of Albania, notably, the 9th Workshop of Economic Research in  6  BIS central bankers’ speeches  Southeastern Europe “Rethinking Economic Policies and Central Banks’ Methodologies”, where 20 research papers were presented by central banks, academic institutions and the Bank of Albania. vii. Communication  Enhancing the transparency is a constant priority of the Bank of Albania. During 2015, we have aimed at establishing permanent channels of communication with the public.

[2] Second, there has been a significant fall in the number of immigrant or foreign-born workers in the advanced economies, particularly among lower-wage occupations. [3] Third, preferences for work relative to non-work activities may have shifted during the pandemic. Recent US data show a persistent decline in desired hours worked especially among better-educated workers. [4] It remains to be seen whether these labour supply shifts are irreversible. Ultimately, so long as labour shortages continue, prices will edge higher compounding the pressure on central banks to hike further later this year. The second uncertainty is posed by China’s re-opening: a stronger-than-expected infrastructure-led rebound in China could pose an upward risk to global inflation. While we can anticipate an uptick in demand from China’s reopening, the extent to which this imparts a renewed impulse to global inflation is unclear. For now, China’s near-term developments appear unlikely to decisively reverse the global disinflation trend in 2023. The recovery of China’s consumer demand is expected to be led by domestically oriented consumer services rather than tradable goods. Unlike in advanced economies, China has a substantial supply of deployable labour suggesting that significant labour market tightening is unlikely. Producer prices in China are continuing to decline. The easing of pandemic-related supply chain disruptions will help moderate producer price pressures, imparting a mildly disinflationary impact on the global economy. However, a sharp rebound in economic activity in China on the back of robust infrastructure spending and an accelerated recovery of the property market could lead to higher global commodity prices.