PRESS RELEASE
The Governor of the Bank of Albania, Mr. Ardian Fullani, attends the Annual Meetings at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, October 2010

The Governor of the Bank of Albania, Mr. Ardian Fullani, heading Bank of Albania's delegation, attended the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group Annual Meetings, held in Washington, USA, 8-10 October, 2010.
 
Governor Fullani concluded various meetings with representatives from IMF and WB Group, jointly with the Minister of Finance, Mr. Ridvan Bode. The Governor of the Bank of Albania, Mr. Ardian Fullani, had joint meetings with representatives of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group, together with the Minister of Finance, Mr. Ridvan Bode. 

These meetings are held annually, as an open forum, where the governors of the member countries are brought together to discuss on the recent global developments and to present the macroeconomic outlook of their respective economies. At the focus of the discussions of this year were the post-crisis strategies.

Governor Fullani had many meetings, notably with Mr. Murilo Portugal, Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund; Mr. Arrigo Sadun, Executive Director for Albania in IMF; Mr. Gerwin Bell, Head of IMF Mission in Albania; Mr. Ajai Chopra, Deputy Director, European Department at International Monetary Fund; Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Managing Director of the World Bank; Mr. Philippe le Houerou, Vice President of the World Bank Group; Mrs. Jane Armitage, Country Director and Regional Coordinator for South East Europe at the World Bank; and Mr. Giovanni Majnoni, Executive Director for Albania at the World Bank. 

During these meetings the Governor presented the current macroeconomic situation and the measures implemented by the Bank of Albania to maintain the macroeconomic stability in Albania.

The IMF and World Bank Group directors affirmed that Albania was one of the few countries resilient to the negative effects arising from the global crisis, by recording a positive economic growth in a low inflation environment. During these meetings, was assessed positively the important role that Bank of Albania played to maintain the macroeconomic stability of the country. The coordination of monetary and fiscal policy, the two core policies in the economy, proved to be successful. Particularly, the current measures, implemented by the Government to cut down the expenditures and the budget deficit, were assessed as important steps for the macroeconomic stability of the country.