PRESS RELEASE
Speech by Governor Sejko at the launching of the Global Money Week

Dear Minister Nikolla,
Dear Minister Klosi,
Dear AAB Vice Chair Kadriu,
Dear ladies and gentlemen,
Dear children,
Today is a special day. The festive atmosphere of the summer day coincides this year with the launching of the Global Money Week (GMW) 2016. The Bank of Albania joined this movement long ago and the scope of educational and awareness raising activities in the GMW framework has widened. This year, in Albania, GMW activities will be organised in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Sports, Ministry of Social Welfare and Youth and the Albanian Association of Banks.

The GBW is a world-wide initiative, aimed at raising the awareness of the younger generation to be responsible and financially capable citizens. Every year, in March, central banks, state agencies and financial institutions and civil society organisations from around the world organise GBW activities. This year, activities are expected to take place in over 100 countries and will include around seven million children and youth. Various entertaining and interactive activities will try to transmit the core information on money and the complicated financial world.
Nowadays, many central banks across the globe are increasingly paying attention to financial education to the public in general and the younger generation in particular. Economic and financial education corresponds to a number of central bank areas of activity such as monetary policy, banking supervisory, consumer information on bank products and services and financial inclusion. The effective participation of the public in the financial system contributes to improving the economic welfare of both households and enterprises. Financial education is essential for citizens to benefit from the financial system and technologies that are transforming it. It helps consumers to better understand risks related to finance management and make appropriate financial decisions.

During this week, a considerable number of students and teachers in Tirana and other districts across Albania will be able to visit a commercial bank to see how it operates, attend lectures from central bank and commercial bank experts, and participate in competitions on economic and financial knowledge. For the younger ones, GMW activities will offer written materials such as short stories, work sheets, and educational and entertaining TV programmes. They aim to teach the children the sense of care for money, the desire to make simple calculations and the idea of saving as a means to satisfy obligations or short and long-term desires.
The above clearly shows that financial education should start at an early age. This ambition rests at the foundation of educational programmes prepared by the Bank of Albania, dedicated to elementary and secondary education. The main aim is to explain many of the complicated notions in a simple and attractive way for both students and teachers.
The scope of our educational dimension has widened with the opening of the Museum of the Bank of Albania. All the visitors, especially the children and youth, in addition to exhibitions of the coins and banknotes, will find an interactive corner with relevant information on finance and the world of money.
In conclusion, I would like to point out once again that the central bank together with other key institutions in Albania will contribute to educating the younger generation on the various aspects of money and its role. Perhaps the formulation and implementation of the monetary policy, safeguarding of the financial stability, and planning on personal finance may not seem attractive to the younger generation, but I assure you that they have a significant impact on the lives of each of us. I hope that the GMW 2016 will render these topics more interesting and fun to engage in.