Branch closure is free as of last month and bank opening and closing time has been free for almost a year now. We are working on the product side, both credit and funding, to allow banks to be more free to offer customers better services. For good governance, no matter what you do and what you write, unless you make people who contradict the rules pay a price, no rules will work. We have therefore in the last couple of years prosecuted about 90 people for 49,000 million baht involving really 1.7 trillion baht of assets. We have recently ruled that directors of banks must devote their attention to the banks and may not be directors of more than three other companies. Some directors have already conformed even though it would not be legally sanctionable until we explicitly inform them individually, which we have not done. We are beginning the process of follow up to fully enforce these rules soon. We have also indicated that we would like to see banks, which are now large complicated places to run, have their directors devote their time to particular functions of the bank. We are also going to begin checking on this, but for sure with Siam Commercial Bank which I visited last week in order to discuss with them personally on their risk control procedures now have a Compensation Committee, and that is a good development different from the time when I was the director of that bank on the behalf of the Ministry of Finance.
Fiscal revenues increased 9.0% in annual terms, while budget expenditures were 7.5% lower than the previous year. Our monetary policy easing has also taken into account this feature of fiscal policy that the Bank of Albania has urged and supported. However, the Bank of Albania would like to bring to attention the need for a more uniform distribution of expenditures and budget deficit over the year, to enhance their effectiveness and avoid the fluctuations that their excessive concentration may cause to the country’s economic and financial indicators. BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  The improved foreign demand and positive dynamic of some sectors of the economy were reflected in an increase in annual exports by 10.3% in April. The detailed analysis of trade data reveals encouraging signals about re-exporting and agricultural activities. Trade deficit, however, expanded 1.8% in April, due to the simultaneous increase of imports by 6.0%. In particular, the energy situation continues to burden the trade balance of the country due to high levels of energy imports. Structural improvements to the economy and a more favourable external environment would pave the way for a faster growth of Albanian exports. The Bank of Albania considers this channel as the most appropriate tool to support the country’s sustainable growth in the medium and long term. Projections for low annual inflation rates, against the backdrop of below-potential economic growth, have dictated the pursuit of an easing monetary policy by the Bank of Albania.