PRESS RELEASE
Ardian Fullani, Governor of the Bank of Albania, attends 2013 Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund

On 10-13 October 2013, Ardian Fullani, Governor of the Bank of Albania, headed the Bank of Albania's delegation to the annual meetings of the World Bank Group (WB Group) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which were held in Washington, D.C., USA.

The annual meetings of the WB Group and the IMF provide a forum for discussion of the latest global economic developments, and policies that need to be in place to guarantee economic growth and prevent global crises. This year's annual meetings paid special attention to the economic situation in the United States and pointed out the importance of finding a solution to the U.S. national debt, and measures that need to be in place to increase employment in developing economies. During his visit to Washington, D.C., Governor Fullani held important meetings with: Ms. Nemat Shafik, Deputy Managing Director of the IMF; Ms. Laura Tuck, World Bank Vice-President for the Europe and Central Asia region, Mr. Andrea Montanino, Executive Director for Albania in the IMF; Mr. Piero Cipollone, Executive Director for Albania in the World Bank; Mr. Reza Moghadam, Director of the IMF’s European Department; Mr. Jose Vinals, Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department of the IMF; Ms. Ellen Goldstein, Country Director and Regional Coordinator for Southeast Europe at the World Bank; Mr. Nadeem Ilahi, IMF mission chief for Albania, and Mr. Per Jansson, Deputy Governor of the Riksbank.

In the meetings held with these high-level officials, Governor Fullani provided an overview of the latest developments in the Albanian economy and the banking sector, and perspectives on the future. The Governor dwelt on the measures taken by the Bank of Albania in the field of monetary policy and banking supervision to safeguard Albania's macro-financial stability and ensure stable and long-term economic growth. In this context, particular importance was paid to the package of macro prudential measures and other legal actions initiated by the Bank of Albania to boost lending and reduce the level of non-performing loans. Discussions during this year's annual meetings also focused on fiscal policy and future steps towards a sustainable level of public debt.

While in Washington, the meeting of the Vienna 2 Initiative Steering Committee was also held in the presence of all the members of the committee. As a member of the Steering Committee, Governor Fullani presented the results of the technical meeting to promote regional cooperation in the framework of Vienna 2 Initiative, which was hosted by the Bank of Albania a few days earlier in Tirana.

The forum meeting of Vienna 2 Initiative will be held soon in Brussels, with Albania being the only non-EU member country with a membership into Vienna 2 Initiative Steering Committee. Albania is therefore committed to representing in this initiative the interests of other non-EU member countries geographically located in Central Europe and Southeast Europe, in particular.

In the context of the World Bank/IMF Annual Meetings, Governor Fullani was also present as a panellist and speaker at the Joint IFI Action Plan Briefing. This meeting was also attended by Werner Hoyer, President of the European Investment Bank, and Suma Chakrabarti, President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. In his speech, the Governor of the Bank of Albania highlighted the importance of continued financial support provided to the Eastern European countries from the banking system and international financial markets. The Governor also expressed his concern over the policies of international banking groups, which make the latter reluctant to invest in the economies of the region. Governor Fullani underlined that closer cooperation between policy-makers and European and national regulators would produce better solutions for all interested parties.