Bank of Albania is ready to intervene if things don’t go as predicted in the next few months.
TIRANA, March 9 – Responding to a sudden jump in the inflation rate in the first two months 2010, Bank of Albania Governor Ardian Fullani tried to calm market fears on Wednesday, saying the increase above the central bank’s expectations was “a temporary trend.”
“The Bank of Albania believes that the new numbers which exceed the level of 4 percent inflation will be short-lived and will not be followed by other sustainable inflationary pressures,” Governor Fullani said during a press conference. “Consumer price inflation will gradually descend towards our target of 3 percent during 2010.”
He also added Bank of Albania would be ready to intervene if things don’t go as predicted in the next few months.
“We remain determined to take all necessary steps to ensure the right performance and to support our legal mandate for price stability in the economy,” Mr. Fullani said.
The governor was answering reporters questions on why inflation was 4.1 in January and 4.4 percent in February, both above the upper limit of 4 percent set by Bank of Albania.
One of the most important elements of Albania’s macroeconomic stability has been the country’s ability to control inflation within the central bank’s set levels of 2 percent at the lowest and 4 percent at the highest.
But a perfect storm of exchange rate fluctuations and economic difficulties worldwide are starting to test the equation, according to economic experts.
