“I am here to express our solidarity with you at this very important and critical moment we are going through. I am here to tell you that this will pass, but we will not forget,” Rama said.

The prime minister said the government had a duty to address the concerns of people taking part in peaceful protests, as well as those supporting them, but not acts of violence.

He singled out the stone-throwing attack on the Bank of Albania, describing it as a serious incident and comparing it with the situation in 1997.

“The Bank of Albania was not attacked even in 1997, because there were no other banks. The Bank of Albania was not touched even in 1997, and today it has been pelted with stones,” the prime minister said.

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Economic activity, employment and wages increased, generating more income for Albanian households and businesses. Expansion of economic activity in 2024 was mainly driven by growing household consumption and business investments, as reflected in the country’s services and construction sector.

Concurrently, the inflation rate has kept declining, fully recovering from the price increase shocks in the international markets.

Albania’s banking system is well-capitalized and lending to economy is maintaining an upward trend.

The Supervisory Council reviewed and approved the central bank’s annual report a day ago.

The report reflects the overall macroeconomic developments in Albania; monetary and foreign currency-related policies implemented by the Bank of Albania; developments in the banking system and potential risks facing financial stability; supervisory, licensing and regulatory activities; currency issue, payment system, statistics, research, communication and financial education activities; human resources management; internal audit activity; medium-term objectives of the Bank of Albania.

At its meeting on Wednesday, the Supervisory Council reviewed and approved the allocation of Bank of Albania’s profit for 2024.

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Central bank said in a press release that the regulation is compiled in the framework of Albania’s bid to join the Single European Payments Area (SEPA).

The move is being made after Albania’s central bank has fully harmonized the regulatory framework. The World Bank found in a recent report that the country has met all the nine necessary criteria.

Joining SEPA is an objective of the Bank of Albania to modernize the payments systems and integrate them into the European markets.

Accelerated membership in SEPA is part of the project “The Western Balkans Payment Modernization” as well as the objective of the Albanian government to meet one of the criteria set by the EU plan for the economic growth of the Balkans.

The regulation fully transposes the provisions laid down in the EU regulation on establishing technical and business requirements for credit transfers and direct debits denominated in euro.

According to the Bank of Albania, building an inter-banking network for euro-denominated transfers helped Albanian citizens save around 47 million euros in 2022. Joining SEPA will increase savings as it will provide for much cheaper and faster transactions.

Albania’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) represented a major step towards the country’s full-fledged integration into the European Union’s financial market.

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The average interest rate on new loans in euros in September reached 4.61%.

According to the bank there has been an increase in short-term loans interest rates in September, especially.

Earlier this month, the European Central Bank announced a 75 basis point interest rate rise, taking its benchmark deposit rate to 0.75%.

The 12-month Euribor has already reached the level of 2.85%.

A Euribor rate (Euro Interbank Offered Rate) is a reference interest rate in the euro area money market.

According to the Bank of Albania, at the end of September, foreign currency loans reached ALL 350.5 billion, marking an annual increase of 17% (approximately 49.4% of the total loan portfolio). //a.i/

The Bank of Albania said it purchased an amount of 13.2 million euros from a total bid of 16.2 million euros at today’s auction.

The amount foreseen to be bought in the first round of the auction was between 5 and 8 million Euros and the Bank of Albania decided to buy in full the upper value of the interval of eight million Euros.

The purchases in the first round were made at a rate between 117.4 and 117.64 lek. The weighted average exchange rate was 117.56 lek.

The Bank of Albania also exercised the purchase option in the second round, for an additional amount of five million euros at an average exchange rate of 117.56 lek.

Today’s central bank auction didn’t affect the depreciation of Europe’s single currency in Albania’s domestic market, with one euro being traded at 117.57 lek on Tuesday, dropping to its lowest value against Albanian national  currency.

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According to the official data published by the Bank of Albania, in the first 9 months of this year, Albanians spent about 801 million euros on trips abroad.

Compared to the pandemic year, this indicator has marked an increase, but still remains 34% lower than in the 9-month period of 2019.

The outflows of Albanian citizens were 28% lower compared to the 9 months of 2019.

Restricting the exit of local citizens, while foreigners had more freedom of movement has led the balance of income (the difference between the expenditures of foreigners in the country and those of Albanians abroad) be at its highest level since 2008.

The Bank of Albania reported that in the 9-month period 2021, the country’s tourism net income reached 672 million euros, or 63% more than in January-September 2019.//a.i/

The real estate sector has followed a positive trend, mainly in Tirana and the coastal areas, as a result of investments in infrastructure, but also the implementation of the Reconstruction Program, which has included three important regions of the country, have pushed the construction sector into a new phase of growth.

According to the BoA, commercial banks provided ALL 4.3 billion in loans to the construction sector, thus recording the highest level in the last three years.

Compared to a year ago, new construction loans increased by 50%. The specific weight of this sector in new loans increased significantly to 20.25%, up from 12.3% in the same period a year ago. //a.i/

The Bank of Albania-BoA announced today that, the burden of loan repayment is higher for medium-sized enterprises, where the share of enterprises reporting that this payment exceeds 20% of revenues, accounts for about 26% of the total, while for small and large enterprises this share is about 23%.

According to the BoA, most enterprises (about 89% of small enterprises, 93% of medium-sized enterprises and 92% of large enterprises) claim that this expenditure has remained unchanged in recent years.

To compensate for the increase in the cost of loan servicing, enterprises have been supported mainly in reducing expenditures (27%) or in using various reserves (27%). //a.i/

Referring to the monetary policy report recently published by the BoA, the increase in expenditures was supported by all expenditure items, offsetting the negative effect of 9 percentage points from direct transfers made a year ago.

The main weight in the increase of expenditures in the second quarter of 2021, was carried by the expenditures on investments and reconstruction fund expenditures as well as on the health system.

According to the report, public investment expenditures in the second quarter of this year are estimated at ALL 22.4 billion, or about 33% higher in annual terms.

In the first half of this year, budget expenditures reached about ALL 263.4 billion, or 12.7% higher in annual terms. //a.i/

According to the quarterly monetary policy report published by the Bank of Albania-BoA, Gross Domestic Product -GDP increased by 5.5% during the first quarter of the year, exceeding expectations.

“The analysis of available information suggests a further acceleration of the economic growth rate in the following quarters. Moreover, the economic recovery is based on a wide range of factors and is present in almost all sectors of the economy,” the Governor of the Bank of Albania, Gent Sejko said during the presentation of the report.

The reduction of restrictions thanks to the vaccination process, the increase of business and consumer confidence, the improvement of partner economies, as well as the supportive monetary and fiscal policies, have led to an increase in household consumption, public and private investments, as well as exports.

Both the manufacturing and services sectors have benefited from this performance, giving businesses breathing space and creating opportunities for employment and wages growth in the future.

Sejko also said that, the stimulus course of monetary policy has provided an environment with low-cost financing, suitable credit conditions, and a relatively stable exchange rate.

This financial environment has enabled a steady growth of credit to the private sector, estimated at about 7.7% in the second quarter of this year.

“These positive trends have pushed us to conduct an upward  review of our economic growth projections for 2021, and have further strengthened our expectations for inflation to return to target during 2022,” Sejko added. //a.i/