PRESS RELEASE
The Bank of Albania holds the Forum entitled "Interbank Market Development and Improvement of Operational Policy at the Bank of Albania"

The Bank of Albania held today a Forum entitled 'Interbank Market Development and Improvement of Operational Policy at the Bank of Albania'. Participants in this Forum were representatives of commercial banks operating in Albania. The focus of this Forum was to discuss the necessary steps to develop the interbank market in Albania further.

In his opening address, the Governor of the Bank of Albania, Ardian Fullani, noted that 'The deepening and broadening of the financial market is one of the key structural reforms in economy. It should be ceaseless and it requires the commitment of both domestic and external factors. It naturally adapts to the different economic development stages the country and the state go through. I do believe there cannot be a developed and well-integrated economy without open, integrated, efficient, transparent and well-regulated markets'.

The purpose of this Forum was to inform the market operators that the Bank of Albania is in the final phase of reviewing its operational targets. The latter will soon change their form, shifting from the quantitative of the Bank of Albania's balance sheet to the targeting of interbank market interest rates. This shift aims at steering the short-term interest rates in the interbank market close to the key interest rate set by the Bank of Albania.

According to Governor Fullani, this change is a follow-up of the modernization of monetary policy decision-making, which is now based on a more complete information analysis and aims at better managing the market operators' expectations.

Further in his speech, the Governor noted that the operational target is well-framed in the Bank of Albania's medium-term steering and commitment to adopting the inflation targeting regime, making up an important link of its successful adoption.