On the other hand, the need of private businesses to carry out new investments has been low, against the backdrop of a moderate demand for goods and services and the existence of spare capacities in production. Fiscal policy has been stimulating during 2011. For the first ten-month period of the year, budget deficit posted ALL 30.9 billion or about 33.0% higher than a year earlier. The performance of budget deficit has been determined by the sluggish increase in expenditures and revenues by an annualized rate of 3.9% and 1.4%, respectively. The stimulating fiscal  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  policy has been winding down steadily following the first quarter of the year, as also shown by the decelerated increase in public spending and budget deficit. This fiscal stance has contributed to maintaining the level of public debt under control. The Bank of Albania assesses the latter as one of the most essential indicators of macroeconomic stability at home. In this context, we encourage fiscal authorities to take appropriate measures, in order to ensure long-term sustainability of public debt. Foreign demand has supported the Albanian economic growth, notwithstanding the concerns surrounding the global economy and especially our trading partners. Albanian exports continue to grow, albeit at decelerated paces compared with the previous year. Exports grew 27.3% in the third quarter of the year, while imports grew 8.6% over the same period. Trade deficit increased 6.8% in the first nine-month period of the year.
WC-FINC aims to reduce the average financial exclusion level in ASEAN to 30% by 2025, and increase the level of infrastructure readiness in ASEAN to 85% (currently at 70%), based on agreed measures of financial inclusion outcomes and preconditions. Particular emphasis is given to capacity building and peer learning. An especially interesting part of this journey has been ASEAN’s incredible diversity which provides a rich and broad canvass for drawing lessons from every country on specific challenges faced and measures pursued to increase financial inclusion. For some of us, the geographic barriers to financial inclusion are the most urgent, for 1/3  BIS central bankers' speeches  others, cost or knowledge and trust are more significant barriers. In different ways, we all have something to learn from each other’s experience on strategies that worked or did not work so well. This is why we are here today. This Forum on financial inclusion was organised in response to technical assistance requests and learning needs of ASEAN countries based on a survey conducted by WC-FINC last year. There was particular interest in Malaysia’s experience and so we volunteered to host this first Forum, but clearly, we are also eager to learn from others. The Forum focuses on 5 key areas which represent core pillars of a holistic financial inclusion system. The first is the development of a national financial inclusion strategy and monitoring mechanism which are crucial to ensure that strategies are well targeted, coordinated and executed.