by a redistribution of the production factors, the labour forces and capital support. the large demand for the infrastructure development, for increasing and expanding the productive capacities as well as for housing made that construction sector be characterized by high development rates. it contributed by an average of 17 percent to the economic growth of the last three years, although the added value in this sector represented only 10 percent of gdp in 2004. sales of the “ trade, hotels, restaurants ” sector increased by 6. 2 percent over the nine - month period of 2004, in comparison with the same period of the previous year. this sector performed nearly 44 percent of total sales for this period. a positive development of year 2004 was also the agricultural production, which increased by 4. 9 percent. the industry sector performance has been characterized by a mixed performance. sub - branches of the processing industry like foodstuff industry, manufacturing of mineral products and metallurgy, performed higher sales during the nine - month period of 2004, while sales of the textile industry and processing leather industry marked rather low levels. the energetic sector experienced a positive performance during 2004. the electric energy production marked an annual growth of 12 percent, being expressed in the rise of exports by 20 percent and the decline of energy imports by 30 percent. sales of the transport sector increased by 5 percent over the nine - month period of the year. an important aspect of the albanian economy over the last years is the fact that the economic growth did not generate macroeconomic imbalances. on the contrary, it is accompanied by the ongoing consolidation of this stability, being expressed in the low and stable inflation rates, in the reduction of budget deficit and public debt, in the improvement of the balance of payments position and in the overall stability of monetary indicators. some indicators of the economy over the years real growth of gdp ( in % ) 1 pbb ( with current prices, in millions of lek2 ) pbb ( with current prices, in millions of usd ) pbb ( in usd per capita ) 3 number of the employed ( in thousands ) unemployment rate ( in % ) 8. 9 7. 7 6. 5 4. 7 6. 0 6. 0 3548. 4 3694. 5 4102. 4 4496. 8 5702. 2 7, 581 1052. 0 1086. 3 1329. 0 1460. 0 1833. 5 2, 434 1081. 0 1068. 0 1065. 0 921. 0

of albania, ministry of finance and this institution. particularly, they evaluated the maintaining of inflation within the bank of albania targeted band ( 2 - 4 percent ), the maintaining of a relatively stable exchange rate and the efforts for modernizing the banking system. at the same time, the missions expressed their support and encouraged the mid - term plan on cash reduction in economy. rising the lending, developing the real sector and amending the regulatory framework of banking supervision were other topics discussed in these meetings and in the contacts of the members of the mission with the bank of albania experts. the bank of albania was visited by the mission of technical assistance of the imf, which was focused on banking supervision area, implementation of international accounting and payment standards, application of monetary statistics standards and integration of the bank of albania into the european monetary system. the bank of albania required assistance in inflation targeting area. the so - far assistance by the imf to the bank of albania is regarded as a stable and fruitful one, impacting significantly on the accomplishment of up date central banking standards. also, in the framework of cooperation with the world bank and its financial support, the bank of albania has initiated the automated electronic clearing house project, which will serve the further modernization of payment system and its approximation to international standards. the work for implementation of this project was inaugurated on november 2004, with the participation of senior managers of the world bank. during 2004, the bank of albania, together with the banking system and the ministry of finance designed a number of operations, which were intended to reduce cash in economy. in view of meeting these commitments during 2004, a number of concrete steps were taken, among which i would highlight the following : completion on january 2004 of the interbank payment system, initiation of the big project for building the automated electronic clearing house and the transfer of wages of public administration personnel through a bank account. both above projects are regarded as an essential infrastructure, connecting almost the whole banking system. the implementation of the systems is done in accordance with best international standards and principles, based on modern and up date technology. on the other hand, i would emphasize that we have also organized meetings with various groups and representatives of economic interest, who not only have helped us to better understand our weak points, but have also served for clarifying mutual benefits to the participants. we are determined to continue our efforts in this direction even during 2005. therefore, we are working to complete the project on small - size payments in time, to start