( see buiter et al., 2002 ). see buiter and grafe ( 2002 ) and begg et al. ( 2002 ). ( iv ) the bank of albania approach to eu accession the monetary policy of the bank of albania focuses on maintaining price stability through the control of monetary aggregates which are used as intermediate target. indirect instruments are used to transmit interest rate and liquidity signals to the market. repo rate is the leading indicator for short term interest rates while repo and reverse - repo operations are used to manage liquidity. over the last five years the bank of albania stability oriented monetary policy has generated low and stable inflation ; it has also ensured that medium and long run inflation expectations have been well contained. the economic growth has been robust at around 5 - 6 percent of gdp, while enjoying a high degree of financial stability. ( in other words, it seems like we are already close to the erm ii standards. ) such results reflect the opinion that economic convergence should not be held back by the political one. political processes dictate that erm ii and emu should be preceded by entry into the eu. the bank of albania has a clear view of the eu accession process. the design of the current and future monetary policy strategies is in line with the ultimate objective of eu accession. - on the policy side, it is striving to maintain monetary conditions in line with the maastricht criteria. in this respect, bank of albania is carefully considering all available alternatives of monetary policy regimes, among which priority is given to fully fledged inflation targeting strategy. this framework will provide a more sophisticated approach to decision - making and will create a better platform for communicating our commitment to price stability, ultimately leading to a better anchoring of inflation expectations. however, the choice of the new regime will be a conditional decision based upon results of current ongoing research, evaluation of the preconditions and building up of capacities. to this end, we are carefully refining our technical capacities and decision - making processes, following the necessary preconditions, working to achieve real independence for the monetary policy, upgrading our analytical capacities and designing appropriate internal processes. - on the structural side, the bank of albania is also pushing the reform agenda in the financial sector. the reform agenda in the albanian financial sector aims at gradual implementation of the acquis communnautaire standards in banking legislation. we are revising the legal infrastructure. in this regard, a new draft banking

emmanuel tumusiime - mutebile : providing better access to banking in uganda speech by mr emmanuel tumusiime - mutebile, governor of the bank of uganda, at the official opening of imperial bank uganda limited, acacia mall branch, kampala, 10 march 2014. * * * the shareholders of imperial bank uganda limited members of the board of directors ; senior management and staff ; distinguished customers ; invited guests ; ladies and gentlemen. i am greatly honoured to be invited as chief guest at this official opening of a new branch of imperial bank at acacia mall. let me begin by congratulating the directors and the management of imperial bank for the progress they have made in expanding the bank ’ s foot print in the ugandan banking market. this is the fifth branch that the bank has opened since it began its operations in uganda three years ago. it will provide better access to premier banking services for the bank ’ s customers in this vibrant business location in the city. uganda currently has 25 commercial banks in operation, compared to only 15 at the end of 2007. in the last six years, 12 new banks have entered the market in uganda, of which imperial bank is one of the most recent. it is pertinent to ask what benefits has the almost doubling of the number of commercial banks operating in uganda delivered to bank customers in this country. i would like to spend a few minutes addressing this question. for many years, during the colonial period and in the three decades after independence, our banking markets were dominated by a relatively small number of banks, mostly foreign or publicly owned. competition was not very vigorous and access to banking services was very limited for the majority of the ugandan population. this began to change in the 1990s, with new privately owned banks entering the market. since the mid 2000s, new entry into the banking market has gathered pace, comprising for the most part banks which are subsidiaries of african banks, especially banks from nigeria and kenya. imperial bank is part of this trend ; its parent bank is kenyan. the new entry into our banking market has spurred a dramatic expansion of the physical presence of banks in uganda. the number of commercial bank branches has expanded from 194 in 2007 to the current level of 544. the 12 new entrants to our market in the last six years contributed 152 of these new branches. the expansion of banking has also brought many new customers into the banking system. in 2007 there were 2. 2 million bank accounts held in commercial banks. this