for release on delivery october 15, 2020 modernizing and strengthening cra regulations : a conversation with minority depository institutions remarks by lael brainard member board of governors of the federal reserve system to the national bankers association ( via webcast ) october 15, 2020 i want to thank kim saunders and kenneth kelly for inviting me to join members of the national bankers association ( nba ) for a conversation today. 1 as mission - driven financial institutions with a focus on serving minority households and businesses, you see the significant racial disparities in our economy every day. going into the crisis, black and latinx households had significantly smaller wealth cushions to fall back on than the average american household. for instance, federal reserve research based on the survey of consumer finances notes that, in 2019 “ the typical white family has eight times the wealth of the typical black family and five times the wealth as the typical hispanic family. ” 2 the covid - 19 crisis has made existing racial disparities even worse. low - wage and minority workers have experienced disproportionate harm to both their lives and livelihoods as a result of the covid - 19 crisis. as you know from the communities you serve, the crisis has exacerbated pre - existing disparities in the labor market. black employment, in particular, is recovering at a much slower pace than employment in the overall population, and unemployment for black and hispanic / latinx workers remains higher than for the workforce as a whole. as of last month, the overall unemployment rate had come down to 7. 9 percent, which was a marked improvement from 14. 7 percent i am grateful to amanda roberts, carrie johnson, and joseph firschein of the federal reserve board for their assistance in preparing this text. these remarks represent my own views, which do not necessarily represent those of the federal reserve board or the federal open market committee. neil bhutta, andrew c. chang, lisa j. dettling, and joanne w. hsu, “ disparities in wealth by race and ethnicity in the 2019 survey of consumer finances ” ( washington : board of governors, september 2020 ), https : / / www. federalreserve. gov / econres / notes / feds - notes / disparities - in - wealth - by - race - and - ethnicity - in - the2019 - survey - of - consumer - finances - 20200928. htm # fig1. - 2in april

ardian fullani : overview of albania ’ s latest economic and financial developments speech by mr ardian fullani, governor of the bank of albania, on the monetary policy decision - making of the bank of albania ’ s supervisory council, tirana, 27 november 2012. * * * today, on 27 november 2012, the bank of albania ’ s supervisory council reviewed and approved the monthly monetary policy report. based on the latest monetary and economic developments in albania, and following the discussions on their future outlook, the bank of albania ’ s supervisory council decided to keep the key interest rate unchanged, at 4. 00 %. the supervisory council deems that the current monetary conditions are adequate to meet bank of albania ’ s inflation target in the medium term. these conditions ensure the necessary monetary stimulus to support the domestic demand. let me now proceed with an overview of the economic developments and key issues discussed at today ’ s meeting. * * * annual inflation fell for the second consecutive month, down to 2. 4 % in october. its performance was driven by food price developments, which account for almost 70 % of the inflation rate. prices of other consumer basket items moved in different directions, retaining their contribution at the same levels as in the previous months. from the macroeconomic viewpoint, inflation rate continued to be determined by temporary externally - generated supply factors and structural changes in the domestic market. the slow performance of economic activity is associated with low increase in producer costs and low pressures on inflation. also, moderate growth of monetary indicators, low increases in global prices and well - anchored inflationary expectations have generated contained inflationary pressures. in general, this situation is expected to continue over the period ahead. data on third - quarter economic activity are partial and are based on indirect indicators. their analysis suggests positive but low growth of the domestic economy over this period. industry, agriculture and services are the sectors that have supported the economic growth, while construction does not highlight any signs of improvement in the current and expected activity. in the aggregate demand, foreign demand remained the main driver to economic growth in the third quarter. the domestic demand appears to have weakened due to lack of fiscal stimulus and sluggish private investments and consumption. fiscal policy was consolidating in 2012. it is reflected in the 19 % decline in the budget deficit of the first ten months of the year, leading to maintaining of fiscal indicators sustainability over this period. on the other hand, the performance of expenditure and budget deficit did not support the aggregate demand growth