TIRANA, December 21/ATA/ Governor of the Bank of Albania Gent Sejko stated today that, “The Central Bank projections suggest that the Albanian economy will continue to grow and inflationary pressures will decrease over the next two years.”
He emphasized that economic activity continued to grow in the second half of the year.
During a press conference, Sejko said that, “In the second quarter, the rate of economic growth showed signs of slowing down, as a result of uncertainties about the future, the increase in production costs and the reduction of foreign demand.
According to him, these consequences have appeared in the form of an increase in the price of the import bill, as well as a slower progress of private and public investments.
He stated that the financial markets continue to be calm.
“The exchange rate of the Lek versus the Euro has had strengthening tendencies, while the transmission of the normalization of the stance of the monetary policy, both in the country and in the Eurozone, is appearing more and more complete”, he emphasized.
Sejko said that although the interest rates of the main financial products, deposits, loans and government securities have been increasing, they continue to remain accommodating for growth.
“In response to them, the annual loan continues to show positive monthly flows, although the pace of growth was slowing during the month of October. At the same time, the quality of the loan portfolio is satisfactory and shows improvement trends”, said the Governor. /p.s./
