gent sejko : albania's economic and financial developments in 2022 address by mr gent sejko, governor of the bank of albania, presenting the annual report 2022 to the parliamentary committee on economy and finance, tirana, 31 may 2023. * * * honourable chair, honourable members of the committee, i am pleased to be back before the ef committee to present the annual report of the bank of albania for 2022. i consider the presentation of this report, as well as the today's hearing, fundamental for the bank of albania's accountability relationship with the parliament. dear ladies and gentlemen, meeting our mission and legal duties, realising the commitments in view of the mediumterm development strategy, and complying with the recommendations left by the parliament of albania for 2022, have been important objectives guiding the activity of the bank of albania throughout 2022. the albanian economy has faced a wave of complex and unprecedented shocks in recent years. these shocks have tested the sustainability of the economic and financial balances of albania, triggering serious challenges to albanian businesses and households, in turn requiring fast and coordinated reaction from public authorities. though it is still early to provide a final analysis of consequences from the war in ukraine, i am pleased to see that the albanian economy has displayed a high resilience against these shocks. this resilience has been shown, first, in the maintenance of a positive economic growth rate, and second, but no less important, in the preservation of overall economic and financial stability in the country. in particular, the rapid surge in prices over the last year, has been brought under control and inflation has been declining in recent months, through easing the pressures on household'budgets and reducing uncertainties for enterprises. at the same time, the banking sector appears sound, indicators on the stability of both public and external debt have been improving, the financial environment is calm, and enterprises and households'balance sheets remain solid. these achievements are not a result of chance. they reflect, among other things, adequate and coordinated monetary, financial and fiscal policies and the results of continuous structural reforms which we have undertaken in the financial sector. the proportional and timely reaction of these policies has minimised the immediate consequences of shocks and has safeguarded the production capacity of albania. in parallel, continuous structural reforms have strengthened the flexibility and resilience of the albanian economy, by helping both the monetary and financial stability of albania. 1 / 8 bis - central bankers'speeches

mr. matsushita discusses recent monetary and economic conditions in japan and comments on the bank of japan ’ s monetary policy management speech by the governor of the bank of japan, mr. yasuo matsushita, to the research institute of japan in tokyo on 5 / 11 / 97. i. introduction it is a great honor to be invited by the research institute of japan to address this distinguished audience. it has been one year since i last attended this gathering in november 1996. looking back at the economic developments in japan over the past year, economic growth temporarily accelerated from the latter half of 1996 through the spring of 1997, helped to some extent by increased demand ahead of the rise in the consumption tax rate in fiscal 1997. since april this year, however, economic growth has been decelerating partly reflecting the lingering effects of the rise in the consumption tax rate. during this period, business sentiment seems to have become more cautious. today, i would like to give views of the bank of japan on the present condition of and on the outlook for the japanese economy. i will also discuss the bank ’ s thinking behind its monetary policy management. i would then like to use the remaining time to discuss the bank ’ s views on some of the comments and questions the bank has been receiving recently concerning the prolonged easy money policy, by which the official discount rate has been maintained at 0. 5 percent for more than two years. through my explanation, i hope to gain your better understanding on the bank ’ s aims in its monetary policy management. ii. recent monetary and economic conditions and the bank ’ s monetary policy management a. the present condition of and the outlook for the domestic economy let me first discuss the domestic economic condition. japan ’ s economic growth has been decelerating since april 1997 partly reflecting the impact of the rise in the consumption tax rate that took place that month. in addition to the continuing decrease in public investment since autumn 1996, household spending such as personal consumption and housing investment has also dropped significantly since april 1997. as regards personal consumption, outlays on services such as those provided by the travel industry have been increasing moderately. however, outlays on goods have remained sluggish, as indicated by the sales of automobiles and household electric appliances as well as department store and chain store sales, although there are signs of a slight recovery. in addition, housing investment in terms of housing starts has declined more recently to 1. 3 million from the 1. 6 million per annum level