Sejko takes stock of the first half of the year: More loans in lek, austerity measures for microloans

The governor of the Bank of Albania Gent Sejko has made a summary of the economic situation in our country. According to him, there was an economic growth which remained at the level of 3.6 percent, while inflation was around the level of 2.1 percent.

Albanians are abandoning the European currency by accessing more the national currency at least in one direction, that of loans taken from banks in the first half of the year.

"We have had an increase in loans on an annual basis at the level of 15 percent and within this increase, only the loan in Lek has increased at the level of 20 percent. This growth has been uniform for both individuals and businesses", said Gent Sejko.

Describing as a positive development the expansion of lending, mainly influenced by the demand for loans for the purchase of apartments, the Bank of Albania estimates that the "good days of this development" may not last forever.

"The main risk facing the financial sector and the banking sector is the credit risk... as I said, the credit risk has been controlled, it has decreased according to the analysis, but some elements need to be evaluated and addressed and these were the object of the Supervisory Council's analysis", adds Sejko.

After the meeting of the Supervisory Council, which approved the Financial Stability Report for the first half of 2024, the governor of the Bank of Albania, Gent Sejko, also spoke about the measures being taken to protect borrowers, especially in non-bank financial institutions.

"There will be a better filtering of customers who are borrowers in these financial institutions by anticipating or preventing a certain age, a certain ability or taking a better analysis of their personal finances and their ability to be a borrower of these non-bank financial institutions", he said.

At yesterday's meeting, the Supervisory Council of the Central Bank assessed that the risks for economic and financial developments in the country remain present, mainly from geopolitical developments in the world.