The Governor of the Bank of Albania, Gent Sejko, held a meeting with a delegation from Moody's Ratings, headed by Domenico Piscitelli, Director of Research and Policy for Europe at Moody's.

The focus of the meeting was the presentation and analysis of the latest economic and financial situation in the country, as well as the discussion of cooperation opportunities between the two institutions. During the meeting, Governor Sejko stated that the Albanian economy has had a positive development, despite the many and serious challenges it has faced in recent years. He emphasized that Albania enjoys solid economic growth, low and under-control inflation, as well as improvement of the country's internal and external balances.

Furthermore, the Governor underlined that the update of the forecasts suggests that the positive momentum of economic development will continue in the future. More specifically, the Albanian economy is expected to continue to grow in the medium term, at stable rates and close to potential, while inflation is expected to stay close to current levels for the remainder of the year and return to the target during the first half of 2025.

Following the meeting, the Governor added that the careful normalization of the stance of the monetary policy managed to bring the inflation under control, without affecting the positive development trend of the country and its financial stability.

Furthermore, the Governor informed Moody's representatives on the stability of the banking sector, which presents stabilized indicators of liquidity and profitability. The governor emphasized that this sector has continued to provide the necessary funds for the growth of consumption and investments.

Moody's representatives evaluated the progress made by Albania in recent years, both in terms of economic growth and in terms of strengthening the country's economic and financial stability parameters. They underlined that this progress proves the strengthening of the country's institutional capacities in terms of the design and implementation of effective macroeconomic policies, but also the careful supervision and regulation of its financial system.

They emphasized that the further integration of Albania into the European Union and in the European payment system will bring extraordinary benefits, but also a series of challenges in improving policy-making, drafting, and implementation of the supervisory and regulatory framework.

The international credit rating agency "Moody's" - as communicated on April 19, 2024 - has changed Albania's perspective to "positive" from "stable", in the latest published revision.

Moody's representatives expressed that they welcome the opportunity to assist the Bank of Albania in fulfilling the wide range of tasks of monetary policy, financial stability, payment systems, and financial supervision. Next, concrete areas of cooperation in the future were discussed.