, the share of banking sector assets stood at 92. 5 % of the gdp. the activity of the banking sector was stable, reducing the risks to financial stability. in particular, the credit risk marked significant reduction in this year. the ratio of non - performing loans fell to 13. 2 % at the end of the year, down by around 5 percentage points from a year earlier. the liquidity risk in banking activity continues to be low, while the banking system exposure to market risks remains present and subject to monitoring. the improvement of the cyclical position of albania and the encouraging signals on the economic growth outlook have also reflected the results of the work of the bank of albania. let me explain in greater detail. 2. bank of albania activity highlights in 2017 the activity of the bank of albania has been and remains oriented toward fulfilling our mission and legal obligations. regarding the operational aspect, our activity in 2017 was guided by the medium - term development strategy 2016 – 2018. the two main aspects in our activity were monetary policy and banking sector supervision and regulation. 2 / 6 bis central bankers'speeches the monetary policy of the bank of albania continued to maintain the accommodative stance during 2017, in the presence of still incomplete utilisation of production capacities and weak inflationary pressures. the monetary stimulus was transmitted through maintaining the policy rate at the lowest historical level, at 1. 25 %, increasing the volume and average duration of the liquidity injected in the interbank market and the forward guidance tool. the positive effects of the monetary policy were present in several aspects. first, in lower costs of financing consumption and investments. the volume of lek credit to the private sector increased by 7. 2 % in 2017, providing the main contribution to total credit growth. second, in reducing uncertainties of economic agents, encouraging them toward consumption and investments. third, in mitigating appreciation pressures of the exchange rate, contributing to the improvement of the balance of trade exchanges and further growth of economic activity. fourth, in strengthening of financial stability. the financial environment with low interest rates has improved the financial balances of borrowers, through boosting aggregate demand, easing the service cost of debt, as well as encouraging the restructuring of existing loans. our assessments on the monetary policy impact show that its contribution to economic growth for 2015, 2016 and 2017 is around 0. 2, 0. 4 and 0. 7 percentage points, respectively. also, the bank of albania has continued the efforts to improve the

urjit r patel : resolution of stressed assets - towards the endgame speech by dr urjit r patel, governor of the reserve bank of india, at the inaugural session of the " national conference on insolvency and bankruptcy : changing paradigm ", mumbai, 19 august 2017. * * * 1. honourable finance minister, shri arun jaitley ; chairman sebi, shri ajay tyagi ; chairman ibbi, dr. sahoo ; managing trustee, national foundation for corporate governance, shri chandrajit banerjee ; ladies & gentlemen. at the outset, i would like to compliment the organisers, ministry of corporate affairs, the insolvency & bankruptcy board of india ( ibbi ) and the national foundation for corporate governance, for arranging a conference on such a critical national issue. the gross npa ( gnpa ) ratio of the banking system at 9. 6 per cent and the stressed advances ratio at 12 per cent as of march 31, 2017, on the back of persistently high ratios in the past few years is, indeed, a matter of concern. 86. 5 percent of the gnpas are accounted for by large borrowers, i. e., borrowers with aggregate exposure of 5 crores and above. the challenge in dealing with the issue gets accentuated when observed against the capital position of some of the banks, particularly public sector ones. 2. swift, time - bound resolution or liquidation of stressed assets will be critical for de - clogging bank balance sheets and for efficient reallocation of capital. the government, ibbi and the reserve bank have been working together to comprehensively address the challenge through a multi - pronged approach. in brief remarks today, i intend to highlight the key dimensions of this convergent approach and share the underlying thinking. 3. the specific measures taken over the last few months, both by the government and the reserve bank, to strengthen the legal, regulatory, supervisory and institutional framework are aimed at the ultimate objective of facilitating quick resolution of stressed assets in a time - bound manner. the sense of urgency imbued in these measures is reflective of the intent not to allow things to drag any further. the recent measures address, inter alia, two key lacunae in the earlier framework : one, the absence of a hard - coded, time - bound period for resolution ; and two, the agency and coordination failures at banks and joint lenders forums ( jlf ) in pushing through viable