Economy
Bank of Albania law goes to Parliament's legal committee: government financing banned, debate over the governor
Deputy Finance Minister Endrit Yzeiraj presented the bill, which bans monetary financing of the government and raises the central bank's capital to 6 billion lek, while lawmakers debated whether guarantees for the governor belong in the Constitution.
By ANN Newsroom · Newsroom
October 27, 2026, 16:04 · Updated 18:42 · 2 min read
In brief
- Yzeiraj: the bill makes price stability the primary objective and explicitly bans monetary financing of the government.
- The Bank of Albania's capital rises from 2.5 billion to 6 billion lek; three new committees are created.
- Gjiknuri asked whether protecting the governor from coercive measures should be in the Constitution; Zaçaj said the law is also enough.
Deputy Finance Minister Endrit Yzeiraj on Tuesday presented the new bill “On the Bank of Albania” to Parliament's legal affairs committee, calling it a kind of “constitution” for the monetary and financial system. He said the law is one of the main steps toward closing Chapter 17 of the EU negotiations, on economic and monetary policy.
The bill's five innovations
Yzeiraj said the bill clearly sets price stability as the central bank's primary objective, from which all other goals derive. It explicitly bans monetary financing of the government and public institutions, raising, in the deputy minister's words, a “wall” between the central bank and the budget. For the first time it creates a monetary committee, a financial stability committee and an audit committee, while the Bank of Albania's capital rises from 2.5 billion to 6 billion lek.
“The Albanian economy, fortunately, has not had financial crises since 1997,” Yzeiraj said, adding that the law aims at full alignment with obligations stemming from the EU treaty.
Guarantees for the governor
The debate focused on protecting the governor. Socialist lawmaker Damian Gjiknuri asked whether guarantees against coercive measures would not be safer in the Constitution, as is the case for the President, lawmakers and judges of the High Court and the Constitutional Court. Deputy Governor Holta Zaçaj, a former president of the Constitutional Court, replied that procedural guarantees can also stand in law, although the constitutional level would be preferable. She clarified that this is not immunity from prosecution but temporary suspension from office, and acknowledged that the EU does not require it as an obligation. “The governor is not protected as a person. We protect the institution by protecting the governor,” Zaçaj said.
The draft published for consultation in July provided that the governor and deputy governors could not be arrested without authorization from the Constitutional Court, except when caught in the act, according to Euronews Albania.
