For the more immediate future, the projections indicate that inflation will remain very high due to continued pressures from energy and food prices and pipeline pressures in the pricing chain, in addition to the effects of the economic reopening and the global supply shortages. But looking further ahead, in the absence of new disruptions, energy costs should stabilise and supply bottlenecks should ease. This, together with the ongoing monetary policy normalisation, should support the return of inflation to our target. In this setting, the performance of the labour market and inflation expectations are key. Unemployment in the euro area fell to an all-time low of 6.6% in May. Job vacancies across many sectors show robust demand for labour. Wage growth has continued to increase gradually over the last few months, but still remains contained overall. Most measures of  2  long-term inflation expectations currently stand at around 2%, although recent above-target revisions to some indicators warrant continued monitoring. The Eurosystem projections published in June showed that inflation would remain very high for most of 2022, averaging 6.8%, before declining gradually from 2023 to 3.5%. It would then converge towards the ECB’s inflation target in the second half of 2024 (2.1%). The expected decline in 2023 and 2024 mainly reflects an anticipated moderation in energy and food commodity prices in the absence of additional shocks, as embedded in futures prices. In addition, the ongoing normalisation of monetary policy will contribute to the moderation in inflation, with the usual transmission lags.

Gent Sejko: Banking developments and financial market infrastructure. The role of structure, size and market infrastructure in risk mitigation and financial intermediation Welcome address by Mr Gent Sejko, Governor of the Bank of Albania, at the Annual Conference 2017 of the Bank of Albania, Tirana, 9 November 2017. * * * Your Excellency Mr President, Honourable Mr Minister, Dear Prof. Anastasakis, Honourable Governors, Your excellencies Ambassadors, dear guests and participants, I would like to warmly welcome you to the Annual Conference of the Bank of Albania. For almost two decades, the Conference has become a prevalent event in the research and professional activity of the Bank. Our analyses and conclusions, over the years, have endeavoured to respond to many challenges and dilemmas for our national economy and beyond. Thanks to the cooperation with the University of Oxford, more specifically with St. Anthony’s College, this Conference has aimed, and I believe it has succeeded in doing so, at exploring and providing answers for a number of issues, which, given their nature, effect and interlinking, are present across the region of the South East Europe. The theme of this year focuses on similar issues. During the day, national and international experts of the economy and finance as well as academics will analyse the latest trends and developments in the financial sector in the region, focusing on potential implications on the macroeconomic equilibrium and financial stability of each economy. The theme of the Conference is relevant to both the current and the future developments.