Capital Transfer Outside Albania and the Absent Capital Market

Capital outflows is beginning to attract the attention of policy makers, in the frame of stimulating investments within the country and furthermore, promoting lending to local business by commercial banks. The recent movement of the Albanian Parliament, by way of a special resolution of taking coercive actions by Bank of Albania, aiming at limiting capital outflows by commercial banks, is judged purely declarative and of good purpose only, without a real impact and value added, given the economic, political and strategic commitments, Albania has taken on international and European arena, the development of domestic economy and its model, and the stage of development and intermediation within the financial system and markets, as well as banking and non-banking sector. As per above, and in the context of an increasingly globalized world, and the Albanian’s integration aspirations in the EU, imposing constraints, either administrative or in the form of tariffs and taxes on the free movement of capital, will complicate foreign investment climate in the country, in a time when several segments of the financial market, such as: capital market and private securities, remain fairly underdeveloped, thus limiting the investing useful and profitable alternatives for banks and other entities, with temporary surplus capital and funds, within the Albanian domestic market. Therefore, it is deemed necessary that policy-makers and regulatory & oversight institutions for the Albanian financial system, must express and articulate a clear approach toward the TSE’ revitalization, along with further deepening of the financial system, as the only way these segments of the financial system could make a contribution to alleviate and mitigate such an issue for the national economy.