PRESS RELEASE
Governor Sejko meets the World Bank delegation

On 8 April 2019, the Governor of the Bank of Albania, Mr Gent Sejko, met with a World Bank delegation, chaired by Ms Maryam Salim, Country Manager of the World Bank for Albania. This meeting was held within the framework of the “Development Policy Loan”, an instrument that supports the Bank of Albania on a draft of the law “On payment services” and the development of regulatory aspects for out-of-court settlement of non-performing loans.

During the meeting, Governor Sejko presented an overview on the latest economic developments in Albania and highlighted the important contribution of the Bank of Albania in further developing the economy of the country. The accommodative monetary policy implemented by the Bank of Albania has helped in boosting the economic growth and in the convergence of inflation toward the target.

Focusing on the banking system, the Governor underlined that this system is in an important consolidating phase, which is expected to contribute to increasing the competition and further development of this system. Currently, the banking system is characterized by good levels of liquidity, capital and profitability, which provide positive premises for increasing lending in Albania.

The inter-institutional plan for reducing non-performing loans, implemented by the Bank of Albania in cooperation with other institutions, has provided its positive effects and the latest data show that the level of NPLs as at end-2018 decrease at 11.1%. In this aspect, one of the issues discussed was also the development of the underlying regulatory framework for out-of-court settlement in the case of non-performing borrowers exposed in several banks.

In addition, Mr Sejko informed the delegation on the work carried out by the Bank of Albania on preparing the draft-law “On payment services”, which aims to approximate an important EU directive in the field of payments. This draft-law, which is due to be passed for adoption in the near future, is expected to have a direct impact on promoting competition and innovation in the field of retail payments, thus promoting the efficiency and reducing the costs of their use.

At the end of the meeting, Ms Maryam Salim commended Governor Sejko and the Bank of Albania for their commitment during the implementation of joint projects, which have proven to be very successful.

On his part, the Governor thanked the representatives of the World Bank for the technical assistance provided to the Bank of Albania, mainly in the fields of banking supervision and payment systems. He expressed optimism about fostering the cooperation between the two institutions in the future.

In conclusion, Governor Sejko and Country Manager Salim discussed the future projects of the Bank of Albania that will be supported with technical assistance by the World Bank.