During two latest years, commercial banks have better met the increasing demand for ALL loans, which at end of 2006 constituted 29 percent of the loans portfolio, thus evidencing a moderate extension of its share. 6  BIS Review 80/2007  Corporate credit constitutes the main share of banks’ portfolio, amounting to 66.5 percent of the total at end 2006. In annual terms, corporate credit increased by 52 percent. The credit distribution structure by use has tended to be more uniform in comparison with the previous year. Most of corporate loans (34.5 percent) have been used for purchasing machinery and equipment, while 23.2 percent of corporate loans portfolio has been used for financing investments in activity area expansion. In 2006 the household credit was 7 percent of GDP, or 33.5 percent of the total loans portfolio. More than half of loans to households (59.3 percent) have been extended for financing real estate purchases, while the financing of consumer goods purchases has also increased. The ratio of consumer loans to total household portfolio is 27.3 percent, from 20 percent in the previous year. In particular, consumer loans increased obviously during the summer holidays and during the end-year celebrations. Concerning lending to specific sectors, it should be underlined that trade remains the sector mostly credited by the banking system, by 22.4 percent of the loans portfolio. The growth rate of credit to construction has been inhibited during 2006. This sector presented temporary improvement signs during the summer, then turned back to the downward trend.
The BIS has been particularly active in providing technical assistance to the Bank of Albania, through workshops and training courses organised by the Institute of Financial Stability, which promotes the international financial stability through information sharing and cooperation in financial system supervision area. During 2006 the Bank of Albania enhanced the mutual relations with the central banks of the region and beyond it. Personally, I have paid official visits to many central banks of the region and Europe, discussing about latest developments in the Albanian economy and further extension of mutual cooperation and technical assistance that these banks can provide to the Bank of Albania. In June the Governor of the Bank of Greece, Mr. Nicholas C. Garganas paid a two-day official visit to Albania. It took place in the light of mutual relations between both institutions, laying special emphasis on sharing of information and experience in banking supervision area. Enhancing relations with central banks of the region reached the peak in the round table of October 2006 held in Tirana, where the governors of the central bans of Rumania, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo discussed about financial stability of the region. In the framework of the Bank of Albania’s objective to benefit from the experience of the central banks of the CEE, recently acceded in the European System of Central Banks (ESCB), during 2006 the cooperation relations with the Central Bank of Poland, National Bank of the Czech Republic and the National Bank of Bulgaria have been intensified.