This second risk is one that I would consider small if it were clear that the economy was on typical upswing of the sort of cycle we used to think normal. But I do not see many of the signs that are usual in a normal upswing. Typical features of the early stage of strong cyclical upswing would be rapid growth in lending and in the money supply, signs of emerging shortages in capacity across several sectors, wage pressures moving up, and indicators of household and business confidence moving steadily higher. Neither the aggregate statistics on the state of the economy, nor surveys, nor the discussions that I have had with businesses across the UK, are consistent with this. Consider what has happened to wages in the UK – which for many firms are the most significant element of costs and are an indicator of underlying, domestically generated inflation pressures. Over the whole period from the mid 1990s to the onset of the financial crises UK-wide aggregate wage settlements fluctuated in a narrow band around 3.5%. Those settlements were consistent with inflation outcomes that stayed very close to the target set for the Bank of England. Whole-economy annual wage settlements have now fallen to around 1.5% – well below both the current rate of inflation and below the inflation rate thought likely over the next year (see Chart 16). So these are not normal times, which is why there is a risk that monetary policy is normalised too quickly.
Gent Sejko: Bank of Albania’s engagement in financial education Address by Mr Gent Sejko, Governor of the Bank of Albania, at the opening ceremony of the Money Week 12-18 March 2018, Tirana, 12 March 2018. * * * Dear Mr Pedrazzi, Dear students, teachers and friends of the Global Week, Like in previous years, I have the pleasure to welcome you today to our central building, and thank you for your participation in the Money Week 2018. This is a special year as it marks a decade of Bank of Albania’s engagement in financial education, which meaningfully started with a Memorandum of Cooperation signed with the Ministry of Education. Over these years, financial education and financial inclusion have increasingly held a significant place in our work, in designing and implementing numerous educational projects. They are dedicated to different age groups, and consist of a variety of initiatives ranging from training and brochures to the high school elective module “Personal Finance in Your Hands”, the educational package for the elementary schools and the Albanian Money app. Moreover, the Museum of the Bank of Albania, our utmost effort in this regard, offers/provides a multifunctional space, where visitors may not only learn more about the monetary history in Albania and the central bank, but also deepen their financial literacy and expand their financial awareness. As a result of all these valuable experiences, we have been able to participate with dignity in the Money Week, which, in 2018, is celebrated in more than 135 countries.