Therefore, I would like to reiterate my appeal for finding a political consensus that would enable the establishment of a fiscal rule, which serves the maintaining of long-term sustainability of public finances and investors’ confidence in the Albanian economy. Third, the reform of social and health insurance systems is another important aspect that remains problematic for the long-term stability of the country. Deficits resulting from them are upward and may substantially affect fiscal parameters in the future. This reform should open the way to development of relatively backward segments of the financial system, those of private pension and insurance funds. This would really contribute to expanding and deepening the financial market in Albania. Fourth, sticking to financial stability, I would like to bring to your attention the changes in the code of civil procedure relating to easing of collateral execution. Further to the package launched recently by the Bank of Albania and the letter I sent a few days ago to the major parties in the Assembly, I would appeal once more for their approval at an earlier time possible. It is a set of proposals that we and international experts regard indispensable for the stability of the banking system, guarantee of deposits and recovery of credit to economy. Finally, the long-term development of Albania and the policies and strategies supporting it deserve greater attention. The Bank of Albania remains confident in the long-term development prospects of the country.
The whole our work was supported by qualitatively improved financial literacy of the public, analytical study of several phenomena, matters of interest for the development of the country, and production of financial statistics conform to international standards. Finally, I would like to emphasize that the Bank of Albania has been a serious and important player in Albania’s integration project, completing and updating all its legal responsibilities and institutional commitments. *** Honourable Ladies and Gentlemen, In my speech, I will address the key issues of the Annual Report, focusing on main directions of Bank of Albania’s work over the past year. I will start my speech with our work and results in fulfilling the primary objective: achieving and maintaining price stability. 1. Economic developments, price stability and monetary policy in 2012  As I said in the introduction of my speech, the year 2012 was another difficult year for the Albanian economy. Weaknesses in our financial and trading partners were manifested in a low demand for Albanian exports, tight financing conditions for foreign capital, and elevated uncertainty among economic agents. Also, the public and private sector domestic demand remained weak in the Albanian economy. Besides these factors, two other specific shocks hit the economic activity over the past year. Hence, bad weather in the first quarter was reflected into a sluggish activity in construction and export over the period. The banking system’s response to new and tighter regulatory measures provided by the European Banking Authority (EBA) was the other shock of higher importance and influence.