That said, the difficulty in resolving or limiting the discussion on some key issues for society, many of which gave rise to the process of constitutional change, has played a part in our having historically high uncertainty, which has affected the economy in different ways. For example, the low flow of new large-scale investment projects, which, according to the available surveys for the next five years is at its lowest of several years. Another example is the reaction of the Chilean foreign exchange market in July to the Fed's more restrictive message. Due to the expected impact of a further rate hike in the U.S. on world demand and the prices of commodities, these episodes usually come with a greater aversion to risk and a search for safer assets. The Chilean market, like many others, reacted in that direction, but here the response was of a much greater magnitude. Actually, there were moments in which the market presented such difficulties in its functioning that it required a foreign exchange intervention to stabilize it. The task of reducing uncertainty is long and complex, but a possible one. Clearly, the recent plebiscite does not mean the end to the challenge of having a new constitutional framework, 8  but rather the opening of a new phase. The leaders will have to guide this path, with the will to bring positions closer together and reach points of convergence that are attuned to the expectations of society.
The public authorities at home were committed to supporting the domestic economic development by pursuing stimulus fiscal and monetary policies. In the banking sector, the global financial crisis appeared mainly with the contracted paces of lending to the economy. Throughout this period, the Bank of Albania has aimed at preventing the deepening of the impact of this crisis by conducting an ease monetary policy and supplying the interbank market with necessary liquidity. During 2009 and 2010, the Bank of Albania lowered the key interest rate by 1.25 percentage points, to 5%. Also, during the major part of 2009, the banks benefited unlimited liquidity, at an interest rate equal to the key policy rate. In the meantime, before the impact of the crisis, through special regulatory acts initiated  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  since 2006, the Bank of Albania has aimed at limiting some risks arising from banking activity, such as rapid and foreign-currency lending, by setting higher capital requirements for more exposed banks. Throughout this period, we have communicated regularly with the public at large, businesses and banking industry, to explain our actions and discuss the challenges posed to economic actors. We believe that as a result of these actions taken by public authorities and the cooperation with the financial industry, the banking sector has successfully withstood the impact of the global financial crises, remaining sustainable and maintaining positive indicators of financial intermediation.