During the 2000s, the Albanian economy was most focused on non-traded sectors like construction, and hotels and tourism, with a low share in the growth of productivity. Improving them and successfully facing competition in the international markets should lie at the core of Albania’s new economic growth model. Bank of Albania’s analyses suggest that these structural changes will contribute to recovering the economy at a faster pace in the years ahead and restoring the previous growth rates. The agriculture sector meets the above criteria to lie at the core of this new model better than any other economic sector. On the other hand, we must recognise that despite Albania’s vast natural resources, we have not managed to fully utilise these potential resources for the agriculture sector to face competition in the international markets. The Bank of Albania sees great potential in agriculture, which, for a number of reasons, could not materialise in the past years but can become more beneficial in the future. Unlike other sectors, whose future benefits may be limited, agriculture may represent an important source for a second period of dynamic economic growth. The Albanian economy should be re-oriented towards those sectors whose capacity to compete in the international markets is the best signal for the development potential. The Albanian economy being a net importer of food products hints at a low level of competitiveness and represents one of the major future challenges.
In light of this, the Bank of Albania has in the past years initiated a campaign to improve the financial education of the Albanian people. The recent results of our questionnaires indicate that the Albanian urban population shows increasing and a more complete knowledge related to various financial problems they encounter. But the results on rural areas reveal that the education level remains considerably lower. Second, the Albanian agricultural sector suffers from the lack of information and evaluation. As I noted above, one of the reasons why banks hesitate to increase their lending is the lack of complete information on farms and their products. Further, the quality certification standards for Albanian products remain low. One of the main reasons restricting higher exports and, consequently, higher production, is the lack of certification in accordance with the highest standards for all the Albanian agricultural products. This type of certification does not only prove the elementary food security required by the European markets, but also establishes a starting point for competition in the market. The presence of these standards at a reliable level would lead to the improvement of all market mechanisms, by helping bank lending in proportion to the quality of products. In the framework of concerns facing the agricultural sector, the Bank of Albania has increased its interest in microcredit institutions.