Albania was represented in these meetings by a joint delegation made up by the Minister of Finance, Ervin Mete, the Governor of the Bank of Albania, Gent Sejko, as well as other senior leaders of the two institutions.

During the meetings with the senior representatives of the IMF and the World Bank, Minister Mete and Governor Sejko briefed the attendees on the latest developments in the Albanian economy, the reforms undertaken, as well as the expectations for the upcoming period.

They emphasized that Albania is going through a good economic moment. The year 2023 closed with the further reduction of the public debt, which went down to the level of 59.2%, record figures of foreign direct investments, which reached nearly 1.5 billion euros, with a high number of foreign visitors, a trend which has continued even in the first months of this year, as well as with low unemployment rates. Also, the banking sector appears to be well capitalized and with high liquidity rates.
Faced with a global context characterized by the rapid increase of prices, uncertainty and financing costs, our country has managed to ensure positive rates of economic growth, employment and wages, progress in the direction of reducing inflation, and has maintained general economic and financial stability.

Inflation has dropped to the target of the Bank of Albania in a relatively quick time, reaching 2.3% in March, this is also a consequence of the interventions and the monetary policy pursued by BoA, which are intended to offset shocks and mitigate internal inflationary pressures.

The senior representatives of the IMF and the World Bank positively evaluated the role and policy pursued by the Albanian authorities.

They singled out as a positive development the increase in the Standard&Poor’s rating for Albania’s credit for the first time, which was followed by an upward review of the outlook by the Moody’s agency, as well as emphasizing that the country’s exit from the gray list of the FATF/ MONEYVAL is also news
with very positive effects for Albania.

They appreciated the efforts and reforms undertaken by the Albanian authorities in the framework of the European integration process as well as in terms of successfully coping with subsequent shocks, where according to the IMF’s estimates, Albania turned out to be one of the most resilient economies in the region.

Also, the representatives of the IMF and the World Bank positively evaluated the trend pursued by the Albanian economy and the performance of the main macroeconomic indicators and parameters.

The Albanian party thanked the representatives of the IMF and the WB for the technical assistance and continuous support through the financing of concrete development projects.

Minister Mete said that attention has been paid to the continuous support of human capital and with the assistance of the World Bank it is intended to analyze all the components of social protection. Also, in focus will be projects in support of tourism and other priority sectors of the economy.
/sm/