PRESS RELEASE
Decisions by the Supervisory Council, 2 February 2022

On 2 February 2022, the Supervisory Council of the Bank of Albania decided to keep the policy rate unchanged, at 0.5%, and the overnight deposit and overnight lending rates, at 0.1% and 0.9%, respectively. In addition to this Decision, the Supervisory Council of the Bank of Albania reviewed and decided to:

• Approve the Decision “On suspending the dividend distribution by banks”

In accordance with this Decision, the distribution by banks of the profit realised during 2021 and the profit that will be realised during 2022, is suspended until the end of 2022.

This measure taken by the Supervisory Council, aims at providing support to banks, mainly through strengthening their capacity to absorb the possible losses and to support lending to households and enterprises during this period.

• Approve the Regulation “On the public registry of payment services providers”

The purpose of this Regulation is to determine the entities and the data that will be contained in the public registry of payment services providers and their agents. This regulatory act is implemented in accordance with the new provisions laid out in the Law “On payment services,” which stipulates the obligation to determine by means of a sub-legal act the form and the content of the public registry of payment services providers.

• Approve the reminting of the legal tender 10 Lekë metal coin and the reprinting of the legal tender 5000 Lekë banknote.

This Decision provides the reminting of the legal tender 10 Lekë metal coin and the reprinting of the legal tender 5000 Lekë banknote, in order to fulfil the economy’s demand for cash, both in value and structure, as well as ensure its regular supply with these metal coins and banknotes for multiple years.