Financial soundness improved, while capitalisation and liquidity stand at optimal parameters, at 16% and 4%, respectively. According to the latest data, as at November 2015, the performance of deposits was positive, increasing over EUR 130 million, thus confirming the public trust in the banking system. BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  After long-standing efforts, having increased for seven years, we provided for the reduction of non-performing loans below 20%. The lowering of the non-performing loans ratio, as financing costs in the financial market stand at minimum historical levels, allows for a reliable recovery of credit to economy in the period ahead. We believe that, as a result of the joint action plan with the Government, the non-performing loans ratio will continue to fall in the year ahead. Also, in 2015, a new investor, the American Bank of Investments, entered the banking market, being the first one after 2009. We consider the new investment as a very positive development for the promotion of competition within the system. The Bank of Albania will continue to promote banking system consolidation and adhere to rigorous requirements for a responsible and proactive management of each bank. In 2015, the most delicate developments coincided with the complex political and financial situation in Greece. The banking sector in general and individual banks in particular weathered with success all the difficulties. The Bank of Albania, in addition to the constant monitoring of developments in Albanian banks with Greek capital, intensified the communication with the respective authorities in Greece and in the euro area.
In summary, the baseline scenario considers a reduced external impulse associated to slower world growth and somewhat tightened external financing conditions. It also considers that new stress episodes will occur in external financial markets (table 2). As has been observed in recent months, these events can be triggered by negative news coming from the fiscal accounts, economic growth and the banking situation in the Eurozone. The feeble external outlook contrasts with the performance of Chile’s domestic demand and output in the last few quarters. In the first quarter of this year, GDP grew 5.6 percent, exceeding forecasts in the March Monetary Policy Report. In quarter-on-quarter terms, it expanded at trend rates, leading the Board to estimate that output gaps are still narrow. This view is based on the fact that, although the labor market continues to show signs of being tight, these signs have not intensified: employment has reduced its rate of expansion, the unemployment rate has settled at low levels and y-o-y growth in wages, while still strong, has moderated lately. In the first quarter, domestic demand grew somewhat less than output, but private consumption and investment are still robust. Inflation has behaved favorably in the past few months, below March’s forecasts. This, combined with oil prices falling in external markets, has reduced the risks that were envisioned then for its short-term trajectory.