of albania, through its commitment in the field of financial education, over this decade, has shown to consider financial education of public, an integral part of its duties. financial education enables the resilient welfare and safeguards the financial soundness of everyone, even in critical situations. the unprecedented events in recent years have driven to the need for cultivating financial literacy, as part of the overall formation of everyone. the covid - 19 pandemic and recent developments in ukraine, events that successively hit sharply the equilibrium state in each field of life worldwide, including economy and finances, trigger challenges to : managers of public finances ; families and personal finances ; as well, to everybody. this “ new reality ” for the 21st century has shocked financial markets and the increasing geopolitical tensions are continuing to generate consequences that may vary from relatively contained to very serious ones. nowadays, almost the entire global economy is facing unexpected shocks, which have driven to hard and complex crisis. after a two - year pandemic period and the extraordinary measures undertaken by governments and financial authorities, the war in ukraine has caused a new shock. these events, coupled with the implemented sanctions, have hit the global production, supply chain and public confidence, driving to an immediate effect in the upsurge of commodities 1 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches prices, like oil, petrol and food. it caused a chain of consequences, leading to an immediate and strong increase of inflation in worldwide economies, including the albanian economy as well. to this end, they will impact the direct and indirect economic and financial equilibriums which demand for time and crucial interventions from authorities. in response, policy makers, governments and central banks across the world have already activated a set of measures for mitigating the impact of these successive and robust shocks on the economy. the supportive packages, controls over prices, and the interventions of monetary policy have enabled and alleviated these shocks, and have kept the negative expectations of public under control. in the same spirit, albania has remained neither affected not indifferent. the undertaken measures to control prices and the interventions of the bank of albania have calmed the energy and foreign exchange markets. naturally, the above - stated events do affect both the present and future, by increasing uncertainty and the negative expectations. education is the best response to fight against uncertainty. today, more than yesterday we should properly understand the importance of financial literacy, which helps us in our everyday life, not only for well - informed decision making, also to properly comprehend

domestic market as a result of their demand coverage with an ever - growing supply. the return of inflation within the targeted band was not only conditioned by the relaxation of supply - side shocks but also by the adequate monetary conditions which provided room for the balancing of demand and supply - side factors. monetary policy stance was neutral throughout 2008 and the key interest rate was kept unchanged at 6. 25 percent. in tandem with the strengthening of several banking supervision measures in terms of credit risk management, the monetary policy has led to a more balanced credit growth and has transmitted the appropriate stimuli for consumption and savings. the adequate monetary policy and the keeping of inflation under check by the bank of albania have been also reflected in the anchoring of economic agents ’ inflationary expectations close to the 3 percent target of the central bank. in absence of unexpected shocks on financial stability, inflationary expectations or other supply - side factors, the balance of risks on inflation over the period to follow seems to be shifting downward. in this context, worth noting is the contribution of fiscal policy which has ensured the preservation of macroeconomic balances by keeping the budget deficit at adequate levels. the carrying out of public spending in line with the budget plan has facilitated the control of domestic demand pressures and has bolstered confidence in the country ’ s macroeconomic stability. budget revenues collected as of end november have met the 11 - month plan of the ministry of finance by about 96. 4 percent, while expenditures met 92 percent of the plan. following the developments in the first half of 2008, budget performance for the period july to november 2008 was characterized by a more active carrying out of expenditure. budget deficit created after the first half of 2008 was mainly financed through foreign resources. on the other side, the external sector of the economy continued to be characterized by the deepening of current account deficit, which in annual terms, increased by 48 percent in the third quarter of 2008 to about 252 million euros. as a share of gdp it accounted for 13. 7 percent which is about 5 percentage points higher than the same period the previous year. in addition to the trade deficit widening, the deepening of current deficit was also triggered by the narrowing of the positive balance of revenues and current transfers ’ account. its stability is imperative to ensure albania ’ s financial stability and a stable and long - term economic growth. therefore, the dynamics in the balance of payments developments remains an area which needs constant monitoring by the bank of albania. monetary indicators had a stable performance in the second half