Our recent surveys show that the primary concerns of smaller firms are: unfair competition; difficulties in finding markets to sell the products; and, to a lesser extent, limited access in financing or the cost of providing banking products and services. 1/3  BIS central bankers' speeches  We are aware that the growth of productivity, in particular for smaller firms, is very important for the economic convergence of Albania. The fulfilment of needs for investing capital is a main challenge for small producers, as they have less or no borrowing history in the financial system. For this reason, the analysis with micro data are already subject of discussion in the activities and conferences organised by the Bank of Albania, to understand the needs of small firms and how we can help to improve the infrastructure, aiming to increase their financial inclusion in the future. Productivity is important as it determines the convergence speed towards the advanced economies. So far, the productivity convergence of our countries with advanced countries is guided mostly by a re-allocation of resources from state-owned firms to private firms. Nevertheless, this process has not succeeded to move further forward to the development of innovative products. Unless these trends change, the Albanian and regional firms will likely lose competitiveness against their EU partners. Overall, it means that the economic convergence and the equality of income with EU countries will be considerably delayed.
Another potential for the transition to an innovation-based economy is “The green economy”, where the convergence capacity of the existing producing processes in other processes releasing less carbon may be considered as an opportunity for the further development of our region. Regarding the future, the report assesses positively the reforms undertaken by the Albanian authorities. The macroeconomic environment is assessed as stable and prospects show the positive growth pace will be maintained. Trade, construction, transport and industry, as well as the narrowing of the deficit in the external sector of economy contributed most to the economic growth in 2017. At the same time, the financial system activity continued to reflect considerable improvement and showed good resilience to operational risks. The indicators of financial result, capitalisation and liquidity evidence the considerable improvement of credit quality and show the importance to continue the implementation of the measures undertaken by the Bank of Albania. 2/3  BIS central bankers' speeches  Also, the Report evidences that the projects and investments in infrastructure have contributed to economic integration of Albania with regional countries, providing a positive effect on higher productivity and more opportunities. We assess that TAP investment will provide positive effects on the energy infrastructure and will contribute to higher productivity through lower costs and covering the needs for energy capacities, thus reducing one of the structural weaknesses of the Albanian economy (the reliable supply with energy).