We should have an optimistic view of the future and at the same time make sure our stance is realistic and consistent. Time is ripe for Albania to start producing more goods and services than before. Despite the admirable progress in this context, the gap is still wide. Agriculture and industry remain two important branches of the economy operating far from their potential. Additionally, other sectors that have revitalized during the transition years require more orientation and tuning. These measures will enable better diversification of the Albanian economy, augmenting its stability with the passing of time. Other challenges I believe relate to the country’s external position, implying the reduction of current account deficit and the provision of alternative resources of foreign currency inflows. Therefore, I think that the role of the state needs to be more pronounced, not only in terms of completing the legal and regulatory basis but also of concluding a number of important structural reforms, in particular those related to the land, ownership titles, pensions, to the support of the small and medium-size business, to the further improvement of business environment and the ongoing upgrade of national infrastructure. The further strengthening of safety nets, in the context of a stable fiscal and financial position, is an obligation whose accomplishment would reduce both the real and perceived risk of the Albanian economy, hence creating incentives for the growth of domestic and foreign investments.
In addition, the Bank of Albania has supplied and continues to supply the interbank market with the required amount of liquidity. BIS Review 148/2008  1  As I have mentioned in my previous statements: There’s no such thing as a free lunch! Meaning that emphasis should be put on the far-sighted perspective characterizing the Bank of Albania in the recent years. I do not refer here only to price stability, but also to the greatest challenge: banking system stability. The Supervisory Council of the Bank of Albania has constantly amended the regulatory basis creating incentives for more qualitative lending, while other decisions have aimed at providing more banking system transparency to the public, more efficient internal control and better management and governing structures. Regardless of what has been stated above, the future is of prime importance. For many reasons that I have also mentioned in my previous statements, end-year 2008 and almost the entire year 2009 will in a global context be hard, full of challenges and we will be walking through unknown paths. Overcoming this economic crisis requires time. Its solution will materialize through the resetting of a number of internal and external economic balances, the re-arrangement of many supervisory institutions and the re-design of the regulatory framework on many financial market segments. Put in this general setting, the idea that our small economy would resist this global economic tsunami with no consequences at all sounds as unrealistic. However, this issue is even more intricate.