Importantly, Greek banks have a considerable presence here and have contributed to Albania’s smooth transition to a market economy. Because of the important economic presence of Greece here, I will focus my remarks on developments in the Greek economy, especially with regard to the banking system. I will also provide a few remarks on the role of Greek banks in Albania.
Let me first provide an overview of the impact of the Greek sovereign crisis on the banking system. Prior to the outbreak of the sovereign crisis, the banking sector had sound fundamentals – with high capital positions, low loan-to-deposit ratios, and essentially no toxic assets of the kind that set-off the 2007 global financial crisis.