Bell: Government predictions, too optimistic

The former director of the IMF Mission for Albania, Gerwin Bell, declared for Voice of America that in the conditions of an European economic instability, Albania’s economic growth is expected to be even lower.

“IMF calculates that there is a great technical recession danger in more than one big European economy. This will have big consequences for Albania, regardless the economic achievements.

“For giving an example, three months ago we predicted a 2.5% economic growth for this year, and 3.5% for 2012. But based on the current developments, we predict that there will be a growth not lest than 2% in 2011 and 1.5% in 2012. These are real effects that are being transmitted by the main European economies to the new economies and their partners”, Bell declared.

Bell also expressed his concern for the mandate of the Governor of Bank of Albania.

“The Bank of Albania must be an institution independent from politics and politicians. They should be able to take difficult decisions, maybe not popular, such as increasing interest rates or other bank requests for more capital. More than one week has passed, but the Bank Governor is without a mandate. It is not good having an independent institution that is led by people who have no mandate. I don’t want to comment the merits of the chosen candidate, but it is important to select someone who is qualified and that has a clear mandate. Governor Fullani is a qualified person, and he has proved this. But I want to underline that the mandate of the Governor and Board should be respected, so that they can take politically difficult decisions”, Bell underlined.

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