“What we discussed was the effectiveness of bilateral cooperation in the course of these two-three years that have led to a dramatic reduction in the figures, from 12 thousand illegal emigrants to 600 in 2024, that is, 94% less. We discussed how this work through this joint team can be extended to other countries in the region and how we can make this work more effective. We discussed how to work together on issues of other cross-border criminal activities and how our team can share not only operational elements, but also intelligence information”, said Starmer.

According to the British prime minister, this particular model has been the most effective, while he and PM Rama think alike in the sense that they prefer not to talk about the problem and beat about the bush from time to time, but to roll up their sleeves, work and solve it.

“This is the purpose of the task force, an operational body. And in fact, it is a work that we are quite willing to support in order to set an example for others”, Starmer affirmed. /j.p/p.s./

Jonida Teta Kacani, Deputy Director of the Supervision Department at the Bank of Albania, said Friday that the Central Bank has approved regulatory changes aimed at further reducing the maximum effective interest rate for installment loans in small amounts and protecting citizens in the face of lending practices applied by non-bank financial institutions (microfinance).

In a televised interview, Kacani said that the measures have led to a 3-fold decrease in the interest rate on loans from microfinance institutions.

According to her, the new central bank rules are designed to limit hidden cost and fees and to further cut interest rates and consumer loans cost and increase transparency.

Official data show that non-performing loans issued by non-bank institutions fell 4.17% in the end of 2024 from 4.74% in 2023.

By enforcing stricter criteria and oversight on the non-bank institutions, the Bank of Albania aims to stabilize the microfinance sector and prevent future financial problems.

/j.p/u.sh/

In a televised interview, the Premier recalled the fact that one person was killed every three days on average when his government took office in 2013.

“Crime has declined more than ever before in history of the country. This is definitely a tragic event. Some 110 to 115 murders were averagely committed each year when we took office or a person was killed every three days. The homicide rate has hit record low now and is declining progressively,” the government head said asked about the security situation in the country after the roadside shooting in Shkoder, where a passerby was killed.

“The fight against crime goes on, yet the murder rate has kept declining every year since I took office,” PM Rama said.

Asked about the encrypted communications via the Sky and Encrochat platforms, PM Rama said it is up to the rule of law enforcement agencies to look into this case.

/j.p/u.sh/

Data from central bank show that the average yield on the 12-month T-bills slightly fell to 3% from 3.02 in the previous auction almost two weeks ago and down from 3.75% compared to the same period of the previous year.

The Ministry of Finance and Economy sold a total of 11.1 billion lek worth of one-year Treasury bills, up from an initial bid of 8 billion lek at an auction on Tuesday.

The decline in the yield on the T-bills and other government securities reflect the improved liquidity in the financial market, the fall of the inflationary pressure on the country’s economy, as well as the low key interest rate on the national currency Lek.

The fall in yield on the government securities also determines the borrowing costs of the private sector. Lower cost of Lek-denominated loans is likely to keep the credit performance for the economy at high levels.

/r.e/a.f/u.sh/

“Our goal is to further lower the unemployment rate below 10% next year,” PM Rama told reporters at a regular year-end press conference.

“The minimum wage was increased to 40,000 lek this year and the move practically also coincides with the appreciation of the Albanian national currency and the minimum wage consequently is around 400 euros. In the meantime, pensions have been increased by 9% thanks to continued pension indexations this year,” he added.

The Premier noted that wages for public sector workers have kept significantly rising and a new considerable hike is expected to enter into force next June as projected under the 2024 state budget, with the teachers, servicemen, State Police workers, health workers and public administration employees due to receive a pay rise that would take the average wage in public sector to 900 euros,” he said,

He underlined that a soft housing loans program for young families of doctors, servicemen and State Police officers is also underway.

/u.sh/

According to the Institute of Statistics, inflation in October 2023 is 3.8 %, a year before was 8.3 %.

However, the prices of the food group still remain high.

If compared to October 2022, prices increased in “Food and non-alcoholic beverage” group by 7.4 %.

Within the food group, the prices of “vegetables” subgroup increased by 23.4 %, followed by “milk, cheese and eggs” by 8.4 %, “meat” by 7.9 %, “fruits” by 6.1 %, “fish” by 4.5 %, “sugar, jam, honey, chocolates and sweets” by 4.0 % and “bread and cereals” by 1.2 %. /p.s./

According to the Bank, “Inflation dropped to 5.18%, from 5.41% in May. Currently, inflation is at its lowest level since March last year.

The Bank said that inflation reached the highest historical level of 8.74% between December 2022 and January 2023, while following a downward trend.

Although inflation is falling, it remains consistently above the value of average inflation in the economy. According to INSTAT, in the month of June, inflation suffered another slight decline, going down to the level of 4.5%, the lowest since February last year.

The Bank guarantees that, “In any case, the monetary policy will ensure the necessary conditions for respecting the objective of price stability in the medium term, taking care at the same time to minimize its impact on curbing economic activity and possible undesirable consequences on financial stability”. /r.e/p.s./

According to the Bank of Albania, the average yield of these instruments decreased to the level of 3.56%.

The yield of the treasury bills with a 3-month maturity also fell slightly to 3.01%, from 3.05% that had been in last month’s auction.

The continuous decline in yields is mostly explained by the high demand and participation of investors in auctions.

Of the 9 billion Lekë that was the amount announced for financing by the Ministry of Finance and Economy, in this week’s auction, there were submitted total requests in the amount of 15 billion Lekë.

Out of 28 competing requests, there were accepted only four.

Market actors have shown relatively high demand to invest in government securities, especially in treasury bills. Faced with this demand, the government increased borrowing in the first quarter by Lekë 12.7 billion. Individuals financed most of this increase, about 76%,

12-month treasury bills are also the most used benchmark instrument in the domestic financial market, in determining the interest rates of loans with variable interest in Lek./p.s./

According to the official statistics of the Institute of Statistics, in 2022 trade exchanges reached 22 billion ALL.

Referring to the data, exports to Germany in value were lower compared to the same period of 2022. They were estimated at 7.5 billion ALL, from 9.6 billion ALL that were in 2022. In the decrease of exports by ALL 2.3 billion, the main impact was given by the group of minerals, fuel and electricity. The data show that from ALL 5.8 billion, which was the value of exports of minerals, fuels and electricity, they fell to ALL 3.5 billion in the first 3 months of 2023.

Unlike exports, imports increased by about 1 billion ALL compared to 2022, reaching 14.3 billion ALL from 13.3 billion ALL in 2022.

The Federal Government has invested in Albania since 1988 more than one billion euros in the form of grants and loans, which makes Germany one of the largest bilateral donors in the country. Foreign direct investment flows reached 91 million euros. /p.s./

Minister of Finance and Economy Delina Ibrahimaj said today during the press conference at the end of the year that the fall of the unemployment rate has been influenced by the better performance of the labor market, either in the indicators of employment or in the indicators of salaries.

According to her, the average salary in the third quarter was ALL 61,613 or 9.18% higher compared to the same period last year.

“Even the minimum wage and the interventions that the government has made at the level of the minimum wage have had an impact on the performance of the average wage as a whole and will continue to have an impact for the following periods, given that in the third quarter we have decided to increase further the minimum wage and during the next year as well”, said the minister./p.s./