Constitution of the Republic of Albania (Article 161)

The establishment of the Bank of Albania independence begins with the provision in the Constitution of the Republic of Albania of the rights and competences of the Bank of Albania as a constitutional institution. In concrete terms, in article 161 of the Constitution, The Bank of Albania is positioned, from the institutional view, as the Central Bank of the State of Albania, where it is directly stated its exclusive right of: issuing and circulating the Albanian currency (Lek), the independent implementation of the monetary policy, as well as the maintenance and administration of the foreign reserve of the Republic of Albania. The new thing that the Constitution has previewed in article 161 is the growing perception of the legal independence elements of the Bank of Albania, through re-ratifying the legal independent elements set in the law “On the Bank of Albania” and also through granting to the Bank of Albania not only the right to approve the monetary policy, but also the right to independently implement this policy. Through the definitions of article 161 of the constitution to the Bank of Albania is added also the responsibility of maintaining and administering the foreign reserve of the Republic of Albania, and not only of its own foreign reserve as previewed in the law No.8265 dated 23.12.1997 "On the Bank of Albania". The rights established in article 161 of the Constitution have been embodied and analyzed in the amendments of the law "On the Bank of Albania" of July 2002.