Where necessary, the SNB may also, for example, sell an unlimited amount of Swiss francs against foreign currency in order to prevent an appreciation of the Swiss franc or even to bring about a devaluation of the national currency. The SNB is very well aware that the determined route it is pursuing in fighting this historic crisis is associated with long-term risks. At the same time, it is firmly convinced that the risks involved in not following this course would be considerably greater. In this spirit, it is facing up to the task of fighting the crisis while at the same time maintaining a watch on the longterm aspects. At some point, the moment will come when the National Bank decision-makers will need the courage to do what is right in the long term even if it is not popular in the short term. BIS Review 6/2009  1
This inflation corrodes the households' purchasing power, increases the uncertainty for the future in every cell of the economy, heightens the volatility of financial markets, and damages the long-term perspective of development. Therefore, the primary focus of economic policies should be the undertaking of coordinated measures to mitigate the cost borne by inflation, and control and return it to its target, in the shortest time period and with the lowest cost possible. Against this backdrop, the Bank of Albania has embarked on the gradual normalisation of the monetary policy. This normalisation is undertaken in parallel with all the other central banks, across the region and around the world, which are facing the same high inflation phenomenon. It engenders a progressive raise of the key interest rate, by slowly changing the nature of the monetary policy stance from the current position, which has been stimulating, towards a more neutral position, which provides a more sustainable support for the long-term growth of Albania. During the discussions of the past two weeks, we have gladly observed that our viewpoint is also shared by the IMF Mission and the Ministry of Finance and Economy. 1/2  BIS - Central bankers' speeches  Our future projections suggest that inflation will continue to remain high in the two next quarters as well. Furthermore, the stabilisation of prices in foreign markets and the normalisation of the monetary policy stance will induce a progressive reduction of inflation, until its return to the target in 2024 H1.