PRESS RELEASE
Governor of the Bank of Albania, Mr. Ardian Fullani, attends the Spring Meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund

The Governor of the Bank of Albania, Mr. Ardian Fullani, attended the Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on April 11-13, 2014, in Washington D.C., United States.

These annual meetings are a forum, in which participants discuss the latest developments in the global economy and share their views on measures and policies that need to be in place to address issues of concern.

In this framework, Governor Fullani held several important meetings with senior officials: Mr. Min Zhu, Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund; Ms. Laura Tuck, WB Vice-President for Europe and Central Asia; Mr. Andrea Montanino, Executive Director for Albania at the IMF; Mr. Piero Cipollone, Executive Director for Albania at the WB; Mr. Reza Moghadam, Director of the European Department at the IMF; Ms. Ellen Goldstein, Country Director and Regional Coordinator for Southeastern Europe at the WB; Mr. Jose Vinals, Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department at the IMF; Mr. Nadeem Ilahi, IMF mission chief for Albania; and Mr. Per Jansson, Deputy Governor of the Sveriges Riksbank.

During these meetings, the Governor of the Bank of Albania made an overview of the latest economic developments in Albania, focusing on the banking sector. He stressed that despite the difficulties arising from international developments, Albania is enjoying full economic stability. The Bank of Albania has played an important role in maintaining Albania's macro-financial stability, thanks to measures taken in the field of monetary policy and banking supervision. Taking appropriate measures to ensure Albania's growth was another important issue discussed. In this context, Governor Fullani assured the participants that the Bank of Albania is taking all the necessary steps. He stressed the importance of legal acts adopted recently by the Bank of Albania to boost lending and reduce the level of non-performing loans. 

At the Spring Meetings of the WB and the IMF, Governor Fullani attended the plenary session of the IMF's International Monetary and Financial Committee.

While in Washington, Governor Fullani also attended the Meeting of the Vienna Initiative 2.0 Steering Committee.