Ardian Fullani: Albania’s 2013 economic and financial developments and future objectives Speech by Mr Ardian Fullani, Governor of the Bank of Albania, at the Parliamentary Committee on Economy and Finance, presenting Bank of Albania’s Annual Report 2013, Tirana, 23 April 2014. *  *  *  Honourable Chairman, Honourable Committee members, I avail myself of the moment to thank you, on behalf of the Bank of Albania, for this annual opportunity to present the economic and financial developments over the past year, as well as to report on central bank’s progress and results conform to its mission and objectives. As se have mentioned on several occasions, 2013 was a very difficult year for the Albanian economy. It posed serious challenges to both economic agents and policy makers. As one of the key institutions that design macroeconomic policies, as well as the supervisor and regulator of the banking system, the Bank of Albania has been fully committed to addressing these challenges. Overall, I am confident we have been successful in fulfilling our objectives, although the problems facing us may not be considered as overcome, and require even greater attention in the future. First, I will briefly present the main developments during 2013. Then, I will make a summary of the work of the Bank of Albania. Lastly, I will share some issues I believe should be addressed with priority in the future. *** 1. Albanian economy during 2013  Economic activity in Albania slowed down significantly in 2013.
In parallel, it amended the regulatory and supervisory framework to adapt it to the new financial conditions and approximate it with the new international standards. With regard to the latter, we have worked to gradually transfer the supervisory practices from Basel I to Basel II system. 4  BIS central bankers’ speeches  In view of integrating the Albanian banking system with the European one, we have intensified the cooperation with counterparts in other countries. Bank of Albania’s membership into Vienna Initiative 2.0 Steering Committee was particularly important in this regard. This initiative is a platform of cooperation, which brings together the European Commission and other institutions of the European Union, international banking groups that operate in Central, Eastern and South-eastern Europe, as well as authorities from home and host countries. Its main objective is to promote coordination between home and host country authorities, to avoid disorderly deleveraging. Given that the Albanian banking system is dominated by cross-border banking groups, decisions from the Vienna Initiative 2.0 have considerable effects on it. Therefore, our participation in the decision-making process is very significant. Albania is the only non-EU member country participating in Vienna 2.0. As such, it also represents the interests of other non-EU countries that are not represented in the Steering Committee. For all these reasons, I believe the involvement of the Bank of Albania in Vienna Initiative 2.0 is an important institutional achievement.