The Supervisory Council of the Bank of Albania approved today the Financial Stability Report for the first six months of 2024.

The Bank of Albania estimates that in the first six months of 2024, the activity of the financial system continued its positive progress. Despite the diminishing effect of exchange rate appreciation, deposits in the banking sector expanded and the rate of credit growth accelerated.

As a whole, the resistance of the banking activity to risks was good, in the conditions where the capitalization of the activity remained stable and the profit continued to improve at satisfactory rates.

According to the Declaration, economic developments during the period were positive, influenced by the good performance of consumption and investments, as well as the stability of tourism performance.

Economic growth was accompanied by an increase in employment and wages and a decrease in the unemployment rate. The financial situation of families and businesses is estimated to have improved during the period. Fiscal policy maintained the consolidation trend in the conditions of significant increase in fiscal revenues. Inflationary pressures continued to fall and the inflation rate fell below the target of the Bank of Albania, leading to the reduction of the basic interest rate.

However, risks to economic and financial developments in the country remain present. They originate mainly from the uncertainty that geopolitical developments carry, but they can also develop in the conditions of an optimism that is accompanied by careless actions on the part of economic agents.

Therefore, in the Declaration it is estimated that all agents of the economy have the opportunity to use this period of activity to consolidate their financial balances, to improve the administrative capacities in general and of risks in particular, as well as to increase the efficiency of the activity.

The Financial Stability Report is one of the important periodic documents prepared by the Bank of Albania, with the main purpose of identifying and assessing the risks with which the financial system and its infrastructure operate.

In the Declaration of Financial Stability (the publication of which every six months is a requirement stemming from the Law "On the Bank of Albania"), the Bank of Albania estimates that in the first six months of 2024, the activity of the financial system continued its positive progress./ATSH