we have submitted the official request to the european banking authority ( eba ), and we are expecting to start our discussions on the equivalence assessment process for albania. obtaining the equivalence status is expected to directly affect the increase in lending from european banks that operate in albania. in the same vein, we have continued our work on further strengthening the banking regulation and supervision, as well as consolidating the resolution plans. below, i will list some of the priorities of the bank of albania in this regard. 6 / 9 bis - central bankers'speeches first, the bank of albania has improved its supervisory and regulatory framework aiming to approximate it with the eu acquis and basel principles. some regulations have been revised in order to strengthen the capitalisation standards of the banking system and supervision, the regulation on the reporting systems of payment institutions and electronic money institutions. second, the approval of the law " on payment account with basic features " by the assembly of the republic of albania, which was drafted by the bank of albania with the assistance of the world bank, and the regulation of the bank of albania " on the comparability of the fees related to payment account and payment account switching service ", concluded the transposition of directive 2014 / 92 of the european union to the regulatory framework of the bank of albania. the transposition of this directive marks the fulfilment of the requirements of the european integration national plan 2022 - 2024. the law on payment account with basic features provides the consumer the possibility to access basic banking services, through " the payment account with basic features ", avoiding discrimination of consumers based on their employment status or financial situation. third, the bank of albania drafted the document on the banking sector financial reporting, which is the first step toward the adoption of the international standards on financial reporting and accounting. the document consists of the standards delineated by the european banking authority ( eba ). the final document, distributed to commercial banks, has served to open the discussion on the challenges and respective obligations springing from its implementation. fourth, the bank of albania has developed and approved the medium - term green strategy 2023 - 2025 for " the management and supervision of climaterelated financial risks in the financial sector " in cooperation with the world bank. the strategy lays down a detailed action - plan based on best international practices and complaint with the eu commission action plan. this strategy comprises all the aspects and policies of the bank of albania which contribute directly to the effective management of

monetary policy stance drove inflation coming down. the fall in inflation was initially focused on food and oil prices, but it further spread to other items of the basket. however, this decline was uneven : it has appeared faster in goods items, and in particular food items, and slower in service items. the higher inflation inertia of these items is dictated by the positive cyclical position of the albanian economy, which is characterized by a sustainable demand for goods and services and by the relatively rapid growth in wages and production costs. the inflation above the target, coupled with the positive cyclical position of the economy dictated maintaining the normalisation stance of monetary policy, even over the course of 2023. this normalisation was carried our through the further rise of the policy rate, the attentive and transparent forward guidance tool, while it took place through meeting all the liquidity needs of the banking sector. the normalisation of monetary policy over 2023 had certain features, which i think are important to evidence. first, the normalisation pace was slower than in the previous year. we increased the policy rate five times over 2022, for a cumulative effect of 2. 25 percentage points, while in 2023 we rose the policy rate only twice, with a cumulative effect of 0. 5 percentage points. this slowdown reflected the exchange rate strengthening and the consolidation stance of fiscal policy. lek rapid appreciation helped in mitigating external inflationary pressures, while fiscal consolidation helped in curbing domestic pressures. in particular, lek strengthening has been and continues to be one of the most discussed economic issues of this period. our analyses have focused on this indicator as it turned out significant for the economic developments in albania. these analyses aimed at identifying its reasons, consequences and implications for the monetary and financial 4 / 9 bis - central bankers'speeches stability of albania. conclusions in these analyses show that the strengthening trend of lek is due to the structural improvement in the external trade balances, reflected in the increase of exports, mainly in tourism, remittances and foreign direct investments. in these circumstances, lek strengthening provided an overall positive impact on the economy. it contributed to keep inflation under control, by enhancing the purchasing power of albanian families, as well as enabling a more gradual normalisation of our monetary policy stance, thus keeping financing costs to businesses low. consequently, albania, compared to regional countries, has one of the highest economic growth rates, the lowest inflation rates and the slowest increase in financing