World Bank: Foreign Bank Governor is possible

“What matters is the technical ability and the integrity of the person who will be elected. His nationality doesn’t matter for the World Bank. We are an institution with experts from any country of the world, despite their nationalities, based only on technical abilities and integrity. The most important thing is that Albania should preserve the independence of the Central Bank”, Goldstein says.

Mrs.Goldstein says that every choice would have its advantages and disadvantages, and this is a decision that is up to the Albanian authorities only.

“A foreign governor of world level credentials would increase the reputation and give a bigger role to your country during the financial discussions in Europe. This person could be more distanced from the political pressure that is usually exerted on these posts. There may be some good reasons why a foreigner should be taken in consideration. On the other hand, there are disadvantages, such as language barriers, lack of familiarity with the specific situation of the financial sector in Albania. It is up to the Albanian authorities for this. All these should be seen carefully by the President and the Parliament before deciding”, the official says.

For the Bank’s high rank official, the good news is that the situation at the Bank of Albania did not damage the financial situation of our country. But she says that the authorities should move quickly to chose a new governor.

“The accusations for corruption and robbery have not created any systemic effect in the country’s financial system. Albania should not be worried about this. Besides this, it is crital that the President and the Parliament should move quickly to chose the new governor”, she said.

Besides the developments at the Bank of Albania, Mrst.Goldstein commented the economic situatioin of our country.

“We expect 2014 to be significantly better than 2012 and 2013. We think that the economic growth will reach 2%, twice more than the past year. What we see now and that is encouraging, is that the progress of exports has been relatively strong. The agricultural sector had a good progress and the business activity is growing. We think that it has been helped by the payment of delayed debts, which has injected liquidity in the market”, Goldstein says.

But the economy has risks too, and one of the biggest, according to the World Bank, is the energy system. Mrs.Goldstein says that the solution of the energy crisis will require time and a package of measures including an increase of fee collection, which is low; reducing losses and implementing a transparent mechanism for fees by protecting the poor.

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