PRESS RELEASE
Governor of the Bank of Albania, Ardian Fullani, attends Southeast Europe (SEE) Summit of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors

On 13 June 2014, Ardian Fullani, Governor of the Bank of Albania, attended the annual Southeast (SEE) summit of finance ministers and central bank governors, which was held in Beèiæi, Montenegro.

This year's summit, entitled 'The financial future of the region', discussed the latest developments in the economies of the region and the steps required to guarantee a sustainable economic growth.

The panel of finance ministers of Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, and the deputy finance ministers of Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina, discussed the impact of global trends on public finances in the region.

The governors' panel focused on the role of monetary policy and systemic risks in the banking sector. This panel featured the participation of the central bank governors of Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro, the central bank deputy governors of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia, and a representative of Asseco SEE group.

During his address, Governor Fullani noted that central banks should not lose sight of the primary objective of price stability, as a precondition for safeguarding the country's financial stability in the long run. '... We should be forcefully clear on price stability as the only mandate and target of monetary policy. Only so we can preserve public confidence in our inflation targets and central bank institutions.'

Further to his address, the Governor noted that one of the main legacies of the 2007 global financial crisis was the enhancement of the financial stability objective as an important complementary role of the central bank. Similar to many other central banks, the Bank of Albania enhanced its efforts to develop the macro-prudential framework in Albania, as it was clear that the sole micro-prudential supervision was not sufficient to identify on time and address systemic risks. The Bank of Albania has been working on two directions: first, the identification of the macro-prudential objectives and tools, and second, the establishment of the legal and institutional set-up. '... The future agenda for the Albanian authorities has been established in the FSAP program we underwent by the end of 2013. We have to work to improve risk management in the financial sector, strengthen the financial safety nets infrastructure, and ensure fiscal consolidation in the medium term.'

Concluding, the Governor dwelt on the effects of the relationship between the EU and non-EU members, underlining that it is important to comprehensively assess the effects of this relationship so the reform leads to policies, which are both fair and sustainable for the region. 'It is important to establish a significant level of communication and coordination among the central banks in the region and EU institutions, regarding this legal and regulative framework. It might also be beneficiary that the EU considers readily available financial tools to counteract these negative effects in the economies of the region.'