PRESS RELEASE
Governor Sejko attends the Central and Eastern European Forum organised by Euromoney

On 16-17 January 2024, the Governor of the Bank of Albania, Mr Gent Sejko, attended the Central and Eastern European (CEE) Forum. This annual event hosted by Euromoney brings together renowned figures from academia, leading stakeholders in economy and finance from the CEE countries - to discuss the latest economic developments mainly in its eastern and southeaster region.

Governor Sejko was invited as a discussant in the governor’s panel together with Ms Anita Angelovska Bezhoska, Governor of the National Bank of the Republic of North Macedonia; Ms Nattia Turnava, Vice Governor of the National Bank of Georgia; Mr Gediminas Šimkus, Chairman of the Board of the Bank of Lituania; and Ms Marta Kightley, Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Poland. The CEEE’s countries Governors participating in this panel, shared opinions on the main issues related with the economic reality, such as: challenges of regional economies arising from inflation spike and the relevant reaction of central banks; wining back credibility; new communication new tools; the new technology and its challenges for monetary policy.

Governor Sejko presented its views on the economic developments and consequences across the region, like facing elevated inflation after the global supply shock due to the war in Ukraine. He highlighted that the economic activity has suffered considerable costs, even some economies such as the Eurozone risked falling into recession.

Next, the Governor focused on the case of Albania, stating that in our country it has been succeed to reduce inflation from the peak of 8.3% in November 2023 to the level of 4% in December 2023. At the same time, it is achieved to preserve a sustainable growth of around 3.5% in 2023. The Bank of Albania has embarked on a normalisation cycle of the monetary policy stance over 2023, by raising the key interest rate up to 3.25%.

In addition, Mr Sejko stated that we currently live in a world experiencing a rapid technological progress and the financial industry is not exempt from it. The use of data, the artificial intelligence, digital currencies and the innovation of payment systems have challenged the existing practices and policies of central banks.

Like any technological development, these trends provides opportunities, in terms of both potential benefits, and risks. To this end, both aspects must be carefully evaluated and understood. Central banks should be ready to intervene with appropriate regulations when such financial market instruments begin to play a serious and systematic role in the market. In this way, we will be well prepared to face the challenges that come from financial innovation in the future.

During this two-day Forum, Governor Sejko held meetings with representatives of international financial institutions, where we single out the meeting with Ms Aleksandra Vukosavljević, Director of Financial Institutions for the countries of the Western Balkans and Eastern Europe and Mr Alexander Pivovarsky, Director of Financial and Capital Markets from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). In these meeting the Governor addressed issues related to the equivalence process of the Bank of Albania. The Bank of Albania has carried out in advance, with the assistance of the EBRD, a self-assessment of the supervisory legal and regulatory framework with that of the European Union. This self-assessment was based on the new methodology published by the EBA in 2022. This process evidenced a high level of alignment of our supervisory framework with the one in force in the European Union. Once Albania was removed from FATF list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring (“grey list”), at the end of 2023, the Governor has communicated with the European Banking Authority (EBA) expressing the willingness of the Bank of Albania to carry out the technical evaluation process. In this meeting, the EBRD representatives also confirmed that the progress made in this regard has been quite satisfactory and all possible efforts will be made in order to successfully finalize this process within this year.

Also, Governor Sejko met with Mr Serhat Köksal, President of Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, prominent international personalities, as well as with representatives of central banks, various commercial banks.