T1  T2  T3  T4  2004  M2 growth  5.8  6.7  7.0  10.2  29.7  Money outside banks  1.7  3.1  3.2  6.9  14.9  Lek deposits  4.1  3.6  3.8  3.3  14.8  Deficit financing from the Bank of Albania  1.9  1.9  1.9  1.9  7.5  Deficit financing from banks  5.3  2.3  1.7  3.1  12.5  Credit to the economy  0.5  0.5  0.5  0.5  2.0  Borrowing from the Bank of Albania3  1.9  -0.8  -1.4  0.3  -/-  3.2  The demand of the economy for monetary assets  3.2.1  Currency position of the banking system  Net foreign currency assets of the banking system for the next year are forecasted to increase by nearly Lek 8.6 billion or 5.1 percent from the previous year. The increase of NFCA of the banking system will mainly come due to the increase of net foreign currency assets of the Bank of Albania, which will increase by Lek 7.1 billion. This is a 7.2 percent increase of the NFCA as compared to the 2.2 percent increase forecasted for 2003. The forecasted increase of foreign currency reserves of the Bank of Albania during 2004 at the level of Lek 5.4 billion will be the main source of the NFCA increase. Denominated in foreign currency, this increase is USD 45 million.
Table 1: General economic indicators 1996  1997  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003*  Real growth of the GDP (in %)  9.1  -10.3  12.7  8.9  7.7  6.8  4.7  6.0  Number of employees (in thousand)  1,116  1,107  1,085  1,065  1,068  920.5  920  927  Unemployment percentage  12.4  14.9  17.8  18.2  16.8  16.4  15.8  15.2  17.4  42.1  8.7  -1  4.2  3.5  2.1  3.0  M3 aggregate growth  44  28  21  22  12  20  6  9.5  M3 aggregate velocity  1.82  1.72  1.92  1.73  1.64  1.51  1.58  1.66  MoB growth  14  52  -6  19  22  20  10  -3.3  New credit to the economy (Lek billion)  7.4  3.98  5.8  8  24  40.6  62.6  70.6  Inflation percentage (y-o-y)  Lek deposits (Lek million)  72,831  89,495 130,940 158,326 165,261 186,211 193,886 223,500  Budget deficit (in % of the GDP)  -11.4  -13.2  -11.3  -11.9  -9.1  -8.3  -6.2  -4.6  Domestic debt (in % of the GDP)  30.7  36.18  35.12  36.31  41.01  39.42  38.49  39.1  Current account (in % of the GDP)  -11.5  -12.03  -6.12  -7.34  -7.1  -6.1  -8.9  -8.5  Internal debt (in % of the GDP)  29.2  33.2  31.8  29.1  30.2  28.2  24.9  23.7  Average exchange rate lek/usd  104.5  148.9  150.6  137.7  143.7  143.48  140.15  123.1**  146.9  132.58  128.5  132.4  137.9**  Average exchange rate lek/euro  Note:* The GDP calculation is made by INSTAT with a different methodology, only for 1996-2000.