Shortfalls have been recorded in every year but one since at least 1995. The deficit widened again in 2009 to 6.9% of GDP from 5.7% the previous year. A current account deficit indicates that we spend more than we produce. It also implies that domestic savings are insufficient to finance investment, even though, as we have seen, the rate of investment is relatively low. The only way in which current consumption levels can be sustained, therefore, is by raising incomes. This, in Malta’s case, requires a more dynamic export performance. For a start, this means that efforts to attract foreign direct investment, much improved in recent years, need to become even more focussed and supported with a strengthened infrastructure. The domestic private sector, meanwhile, needs an incentive to switch to producing for markets abroad. This incentive is relative profit. Export-oriented activity must become relatively more profitable than production for the domestic market alone. In a small island economy, where transport costs impose natural barriers to trade, it is easier to set up and defend monopolies. This was especially true before the liberalisation of product markets at the time of EU accession. But this is not to say that elements of monopoly power – and the attitudes this engenders – have not survived. For example, a survey carried out by  9  Securing a sustainable future for higher education, 12 October 2010, http:// www.independent.gov.uk/brownereport.
In this framework, it is worthy to note that during the five years of its existence, crucial results have been achieved, most noteworthy the approval of the National Retail Payments Strategy (2018–2023). The insofar findings clearly evidence the low financial inclusion of the Albanian population, not only compared with the European Union, but also with regional countries. All these are reflected in a high use of cash in the Albanian economy. Empirical studies by the Bank of Albania in collaboration with the World Bank Group show that the use of cash in economy, beyond the diminishing effects on the mechanisms of the Bank of Albania used for maintaining price stability and safeguarding financial stability, and supporting economic development, has a real cost from its use as a means of payment, amounting to more than 1% of GDP. Furthermore, the use of cash may be seen as a promoter of informality in economy. Hence, this strategy aims to establish a contemporary and comprehensive retail payments market, supported by safe and efficient infrastructures, as well as by a wide range of payments instruments and services that fulfil the needs of financially capable users across the country. This strategy, compiled with the valuable support of the World Bank Group, is the outcome of a long and analytical study and aims to best address the needs of the domestic market. The realisation of this vision is assessed to be materialised through a set of legal, regulatory and infrastructural developments, which promote technological developments and innovation in the payments market.