BKT HOSTED ALBANIA ROUNDTABLE IN THE EUROMONEY CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPEAN FORUM
Vienna, Austria (17 January, 2018) – On 16-17 January 2018, Euromoney Conferences, in its 23rd installment of its Central and Eastern Europe Forum, was attended by over 1,100 government representatives, policy makers, financial intermediaries, business leaders and investors. This Forum is considered as one of the best networking events for anyone with an interest in Central and Eastern Europe.
Banka Kombëtare Tregtare, sponsored and organized for the third consecutive year, the Albania Roundtable “Mobilizing finance for further growth”, with the participation of Governor of Bank of Albania, Mr. Gent Sejko, Deputy Minister of Finance and Economy, Mr. Erjon Luçi, Managing Director of Finance-In-Motion Ms. Elvira Lefting and BKT CEO and Board Member, Mr Seyhan Pencabligil.
Mr. Pencabligil, underlined that although the estimated growth of 3.8 per cent in 2017 is quite an achievement in this low-growth environment, Albania and Balkan Region economy need to grow much faster to see the prosperity in a short and reasonable period of time. He highlighted that this could be achieved by mobilizing the finances available in the banking system, considered too liquid and over capitalized, to match the investments required to upgrade the country. He continued adding that financing the government initiatives for Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects, with the support of Central Bank of Albania, and the de-euroisation politics of the central bank may help in increasing lending with a positive impact in the overall economic growth.
Ms. Lefting confirmed that in Albania, unlike the other countries in the region, theoretically there is enough funding, excluding the financial part as a problem and highlighting that much more effort must go into not financial issues. She focused on the fact that may be Albania is not critical enough for having the right attention from the international community and added the important role that the international community has in guiding and supporting Albania in its road to success through long term strategies. She considered training and consultancy on long term sustainability topics/areas as crucial for the future of the Albania growth and development.
Deputy Minister of Finance and Economy, Mr. Luçi, showed optimism on the actual and future economic growth of Albania, listing some of the major reforms that the government has undertaken through different sectors. He added that economic indicators are slowly returning in the pre-crisis levels which is quite positive, showing that Albania is in the right direction, but also admitted that there are still a lot of challenges ahead that requires time and patience. He continued listing some of the important actual PPP projects taking place in the country that will influence positively in the economic growth and invited the investors confirming that the government has the intention to continue with other PPP projects which will have quality returns and are based on a long term sustainability.
The Governor Mr. Sejko, after making a short brief of Albania financial and economic history during these 27 years of democracy, underlined the fact that the Albanian government has undertaken different reforms to diversify the economic growth, canalizing the investments on different sectors that present high potential and low risk. He affirmed that the Albania economic growth indicators are optimistic considering the global economic situation and that banking and financial sector plays a crucial role in the country development and economic growth. He continued saying that the actual banking system is overcapitalized with almost 4 billion euro free that must be translated in investments, underling this as the actual challenge of Albania where all the interested actors must work together to grow business. He highlighted the decrease of non-performing loans (NPL) which must be the trend also in the coming years.
The roundtable was very successful, gaining the attention of all the participants with questions toward the panelists. Furthermore, the investors and financial institutions from Albania who attended the conference had a great opportunity to meet with representatives from different countries, exchanging insights about current financial situations in their markets and setting up business relationships.