TIRANA, May 3 – The Supervisory Council of the Bank of Albania decided to keep unchanged the basic interest rate, at the level of 3.00%, the overnight loan interest rate at the level of 4.00%, and the overnight deposit interest rate at the level of 2.00%.
This was declared by the Governor of the Bank of Albania, Gent Sejko in a press conference on Wednesday.
According to Sejko, the Albanian economy recorded growth that is expected to continue in the medium and long term, while inflation will show a gradual decline and will return to the target in the first half of 2024.
Economic growth, according to him, “is fueled by the increase in family consumption, while the continuation of these trends is expected during the first quarter of this year.”
“Although under the impact of the shock, gross domestic product recorded an annual increase of 4.7% in the fourth quarter of 2022 and of 4.8% for the whole year. This growth reflected the continued expansion of activity in the construction, industry and service sectors, sectors which benefited from the rapid and continuous increase in tourism revenues,” said the Governor.
The rapid growth of employment and wages give encouraging signals for the sustainability of economic growth in the future, but they also create a favorable environment for the increase of internal inflationary pressures, he said. /Argumentum.al
