gent sejko : remittances from albanians abroad positively influences the albanian economy speech by mr gent sejko, governor of the bank of albania, at the high - level meeting on the remittances from the albanian diaspora, tirana, 11 december 2017. * * * dear minister majko, dear guests, welcome to the premises of the bank of albania! i would like first to thank the minister of state for the diaspora, mr pandeli majko, for his initiative for higher attention to drawing in and effectively using the remittances sent by albanians abroad. today ’ s meeting is the first in a series of common steps to be taken by albanian institutions, in an effort to give its due place to the financial contribution by albanian emigrants to the welfare of their families at home. this contribution is also vital for the sustainable and long - term development of the albanian economy. the bank of albania has always considered the remittances as a very important contributing factor for the economy of albania and beyond. in this light, the bank of albania measures and analyses the available statistics, and conducts non - quantitative assessments related to the geographical distribution of the sources of remittances, at the national and international level. the assessment of factors contributing to the level of remittances and the cyclical volatility of their flows over the years remains at the focus of our work. for albania, remittances represent a steady and considerable source of inflows, which surpass foreign direct investments, being thus a substantial source of financing economic growth in albania. in this regard, the bank of albania considers remittances as an important source of income in the economy and a contributor to the balance of payments. from a narrower perspective, remittances are estimated to have a significant impact on albanian households, for reducing the poverty and improving the quality of life. even in the case of albania, the studies performed by the bank of albania and the world bank show that the income from remittances are allocated mainly for consumption, medication, and education, as well as for savings and investments, the latter mainly for residential properties. in addition to the above, the bank of albania treats remittances also from the perspective of their inflow channels in the albanian economy. recent studies show that the formal transfer channels dominate, mainly through money transfer financial institutions, and less through banks. in the meantime, remittances in cash

impact of asymmetric shocks, and also to discover new regional markets for our exports. as you are aware, we are currently implementing the two track approach to the ecowas single monetary zone concept. the gambia, ghana, guinea, nigeria, sierra leone, and recently liberia have been working for the formation of a second monetary zone that will ultimately merge with waemu for the formation of the ecowas - wide single monetary zone. the second monetary zone project, like the single monetary zone programme was postponed a number of times due to the inability of its members to meet the macro economic convergence criteria and the structural benchmarks. at the 24th meeting of the convergence council of ministers and governors of central banks of the west african monetary zone ( wamz ), it was yet again agreed that the dateline for the single currency and monetary union in the wamz should be postponed to january 1st 2015. indeed, our economic and regional integration efforts continue to face challenges as countries struggle to meet and sustain the convergence criteria. but in spite of the adverse impacts of the global financial crisis on our economies, it is gratifying to note that member countries of the zone are making progress in containing the adverse impacts of the global crisis and stabilizing their economies to restore it to a path of stronger growth and poverty reduction. clearly, we must continue to implement sound macroeconomic policies so as to sustain progress toward convergence. we must all commit to work on the roadmap towards the introduction of the single currency, be it in the areas of harmonization of convergence criteria, or harmonization of the regulatory and supervisory framework for banking and other financial institutions, or harmonization of monetary policy frameworks, payments system infrastructure, trade liberalisation, exchange rate stabilisation, capital account liberalisation, or integration of financial markets in the zone, etc. ladies and gentlemen, i know that we can continue to count on management of waifem for building the capacity of technical staff of central banks and ministries of finance, as well as other public servants in member countries in the various areas connected to the successful implementation of the single currency framework both within the zone and indeed in ecowas. in conclusion, let me again thank the management of waifem for bringing this important course to our doorstep, and i urge you all to take time off to explore some of the tourist facilities and other landmarks that we have available. i know that you have an intensive training programme ahead of you and your desire to commence the technical