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The Bank of Albania foresees a further growth of the economy during the coming years, supported by the growth of consumption, investments, exports, employment and wages, as well as stabilization of inflation close to the 3% target.
The Governor of the Bank of Albania, Gent Sejko, presented the 2023 report of the institution he leads today to the Parliament, where he emphasized that the Albanian economy has shown a degree of resistance in the face of the major challenges of recent years.
Referring to official statistics, Sejko announced that the economy grew by 3.4% during the past year, employment increased by 2.2%, while the unemployment rate dropped to a new historical minimum of 10.7% at the end of the year.
" Economic growth was supported by the expansion of family consumption, private investments, the export of tourism services, fiscal policy towards consolidation, the expansion of bank credit, falling inflation and the rapid growth of income from tourism. The average salary level in the private sector increased by 13% while inflation recorded a gradual decline, from 7.4% at the beginning of 2023 to 4% at the end of it, and to 2.7% in the first quarter of 2024 . he said.
Sejko said that the year 2023 marked improvements in the internal and external balances of the economy.
"The deficit of the current account decreased to the level of 0.9% of GDP during 2023, marking a historical minimum of the post-transition period. Foreign debt fell below 50% of GDP, while foreign direct investment registered a historic record of 1.5 billion euros. Exports increased by 1.7 billion euros and the level of foreign exchange reserves of the Bank of Albania registered a historical record of 5.8 billion euros, - said the Governor, as he emphasized that, - the banking system has continued to improve the indicators of capitalization and the quality of the portfolio loans, with the indicator of problem loans at the level of 4.8% ", added the Governor.
According to him, these positive trends enable the banking sector to supply the economy efficiently and continuously with financial funds and payment and savings instruments.
Among other things, during his speech, Governor Sejko underlined that the Albanian financial sector marked two important achievements during the past year: Albania's exit from the FATF gray list and the submission of BSH's official request to the European Banking Authority ( EBA) for obtaining equivalence status, which affects the increase in lending by European banks operating in Albania.
Sejko said that, parallel to these developments, inflation marked a gradual but continuous decline during 2023.
" It went down from 7.4% at the beginning of 2023 to 4% at the end of it, and to 2.7% in the first quarter of 2024. This trend was influenced by the fall in inflation in foreign markets, by the overpricing of exchange rate and from the normalization of our monetary policy stance. The decline in inflation was initially focused on food and oil prices, but it further expanded to other components of the basket , he added.
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