They enjoy the power and the virtues of an influential voice. Some of them have already been partners in reforms and will be shaping the future ones. European integration process and the Association and Stabilization Agreement that we just signed in provides nominal anchors. In addition, sovereign ratings and other independent country reports could also play this role. The Bank of Albania intends to establish open lines of communication and adopts instruments that will automatically start building up pressures before it is too late. My personal conviction is that European Accession lies out as a natural process, where central banks have a vital role to play. This approach would be of mutual benefit and it will speed up the convergence toward European standards, making the political decision a natural outcome of our efforts. To make this process more effective the central banks and the European institutions should continue the dialogue, why not even by surveillance, supporting, assisting and guiding us in fundamentals and economic financial and legal, infrastructure. This process would increase our responsibility and accountability to make Albania an eligible partner. Let me conclude my discussion quoting Euripides who says: “Much effort, much prosperity”. Thank you again. 4  BIS Review 121/2006
Just the reverse, I would say, in the light of quite a few years in the vicinity of decision-making in economic policy. Economic outlook in the coming years A suitable starting point for a discussion of the economic future is the October Inflation Report. Our assessment there assumed that international economic activity will tend to slacken but still remain relatively strong. We counted on GDP growth in the OECD area being 3.8% this year, followed in the next two years by 3.0 and 2.7%, respectively. Inflation would remain relatively low, partly in view of strong competition in the international markets. Growth in Sweden was judged to be 4% this year, 3.7% next year and 3.0% in 2002. Domestic demand growth would be relatively high for consumption as well as investment. A damper was expected, however, from an appreciation of the krona. A gradual increase in inflation was predicted, so that two years ahead the rate would be approximately in line with our target. As usual, we identified various risks in our forecast. One was the possibility of the oil price staying at a high level. We also considered that the exchange rate might be weaker than economic fundamentals in Sweden would warrant in the longer run. Another risk was that of higher wage increases. It was conceivable that the wage rise would be even higher than the annual rate of just over 4% we had assumed for the coming two years, due, for example, to far-reaching demands for compensation and parity.