BoA keeps interest rate unchanged

TIRANA, Jan. 3 – The board of Albania’s Central Bank decided in its final meeting of 2007 to maintain the interest rate at its current level of 6.25 percent, following a rise of 0.25 percent in November to keep inflationary pressures under control.
Since then, the inflation rate has fallen from November’s 3.5 percent, closer to the Bank’s target of 3 percent.
The Bank said there has been a noticeable increase in commercial banks’ credit business in the wake of greater demand for loans by businesses.
The Albanian currency, the lek, strengthened against the US dollar and the Euro in November, due to increased remittances by migrant workers from neighboring Greece and Italy. Albania has maintained an annual GDP growth rate of five percent during the last five years, with annual inflation remaining steady at three percent.
The Bank expects inflationary pressures to ease in 2008.