Therefore, the impact of remittances in creating new jobs has been limited. In this view, I do not want to downplay the importance of remittances, but to draw attention to additional structural reforms needed to enhance their impact in the economy. It is not a coincidence that after reaching the level of 14 percent of GDP, the growth rate of remittances has been as constant as that of foreign direct investments in Albania. This shows that in the mid-term, there is no difference between the decision of foreign investors and remitters to invest in Albania. Of course, emigrants may have a better knowledge of domestic markets. They are more connected to their home-country and react faster than foreign investors. Nevertheless, they demand guarantees for their investments as much as foreign investors do. Therefore, both the volume of remittances and their effectiveness largely depend on improvements of Albanian business environment. While efforts to speed up reforms aiming to improve business environment are underway, especially now with the most recent signing of the Stabilization and Association Agreement, a question still remains: is there any other measure that may enhance the contribution of remittances in the development? The Bank of Albania in cooperation with other governmental and non-governmental institutions has been considering some concrete measures, which I have already highlighted in a  BIS Review 16/2006  1  conference organized by EBRD on these issues last September. I would like to briefly mention some of them here again, with some new insights.
As announced in March, the objective is still “to gradually bring the Libor down to the lower end of the new target range, i.e. to approximately 0.25%.” Progress will be slow, since monetary policy can only influence risk premia indirectly, for instance, by promoting a climate of greater confidence in the banking sector. The capital market was affected by forces working in opposite directions. On the one hand, long-term rates of interest, which were affected by global developments, rose slightly. This increase reflects renewed optimism about an upturn in the economy, inflationary fears and increased capital requirements on the part of the public sector. On the other hand, risk premia have fallen somewhat. Nonetheless, they remain elevated, and – moreover – the reductions that have occurred have been varied, depending on the quality of borrowers, the maturity of the bond in question and the industry. The months from November 2007 to March 2009 saw a significant appreciation in the Swiss franc, by 10% in trade-weighted terms and by 11% against the euro. Although interest rates had been reduced between October and December last year, the strengthening of the Swiss franc had the unwelcome effect of tightening monetary conditions. In view of this development, we decided at our March assessment to prevent further appreciation of the Swiss franc against the euro by purchasing foreign currencies on the foreign exchange market. We achieved our objective.