PRESS RELEASE
Governor Sejko attends IMF and WBG Annual Meetings

On 9 October 2020, the Governor of the Bank of Albania, Mr Gent Sejko, in the capacity of the Governor of the Republic of Albania at the IMF, attended the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WB), virtually.

The first meeting was attended by the representatives of the World Bank, where Albania was represented by the Governor of the Bank of Albania, Mr. Gent Sejko, and the Minister of Finance and Economy, Ms Anila Denaj and other senior representatives from the Bank of Albania and the Ministry of Finance and Economy. Meanwhile the World Bank was represented by Mr. Patrizio Pagano, former Executive Director for Albania; and Mr Matteo Bugamelli, the new Executive Director.

Discussion focused on the performance of the Albanian economy, developments in the financial system, the impact of pandemic on the economic growth and the expectation about the economic recovery in the next period.

Governor Sejko stated that the Albanian economy was under the strong impact of pandemic during the first half of year, especially in 2020 Q2, which affected consumption, investments, employment and public debt. The governor added that the Albanian economy is expected to start its recovery in 2021 and inflation is expected to return to target within 2022.

Regarding the banking system, Governor Sejko pointed out that the system entered the pandemic with good financial indicators and with a good liquidity and capitalisation level and these parameters continued to be maintained throughout this period.

Governor Sejko, introduced the measures taken by the Bank of Albania as a response to the shock arisen by the pandemic, such as: the strengthening of monetary stimulus through the reduction of policy interest rate and the increase of liquidity injections, amendments to the regulatory framework, which aimed at temporary easing the credit payments and the restructuring of bank loans to customers facing financial difficulties.

Some of the other issues that were discussed in the meeting were the promotion of lending, the reduction of non-performing loans and the development of the payment system.

The representatives of the World Bank praised the monetary policy stance of the Bank of Albania, which will contribute to boosting economic growth and bringing inflation back to target.

During the meeting, Governor Sejko expressed gratitude towards the representatives of the WB for the continuous assistance from them to the Bank of Albania and to the other institutions in the country. In particular, the Governor thanked the former Executive Director for Albania, Mr. Patrizio Pagano for representing Albania World Bank Group’s Board of Executive Directors and welcomed while wishing him success, Mr. Matteo Bugamelli, the new Executive Director.