high levels, which is worth for an in - depth analysis. the world bank survey conducted in 2016 concluded that the reasons for the limited use of the banking channels are the high costs on money transfers and the perceived cumbersome and complex procedures. to illustrate my point, according to this survey, the costs of remittances toward albania are estimated at 9. 4 per cent of the amount sent, compared to the 7. 2 per cent average in the region. we are all aware that the more financial channels are used, the more finances penetrate in the economy. moreover, the increase in the use of financial channels contributes to enhancing financial inclusion, increasing the opportunities for savings and productive investments. taking into account the benefits from the formal penetration of remittances in the economy and the insofar contribution to the banking and financial sector, the bank of albania suggests added 1 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches attention with regard to reducing transfer costs and improving or designing afresh products and services / targeted to this segment of the population. from its side, the bank of albania is engaged to further modernise the payment system infrastructure and align the legislation to the eu directives for an open, barrier - less, and competitive market. in the last two years, the bank of albania has been engaging in concrete projects with the world bank, related to remittances and financial inclusion. the first project consists in an assessment of the compliance with the “ general principles for international remittance services ” designed by the world bank and the bank for international settlement and a concrete action plan, with many stakeholders involved, to comply with those fields that need further improvement. another noteworthy project is the greenback of the world bank dedicated to remittances, implemented in several countries across the world. this project comes now to albania as a receiver of remittance and aims at enhancing the efficiencies in the market for remittances and raising the awareness and financial education, and has bank of albania ’ s endorsement until its completion. the other project consists in assessing the compliance with the criteria set out in the framework of the “ payment aspects of financial inclusion ”. by complying with the criteria from the involved stakeholders, it aims to increase the number of households and enterprises ( mainly the small ones ) that have a bank account or a payments account to conduct various transactions. in addition to the above, for a broader review of the remittances across all its dimensions, the bank of albania

interest rates or do we have a situation of profit by banks from an economy in transition, as randomly happens? it is not the high default risk the one that obliges banks to apply high rates. in price formation policies, banks, inter alia, factorise also the country risk, which for many objective reasons is higher than that of the developed countries. also, besides this risk, there exists also the economy informality, problems about ownership, mortgage of properties and collateral execution. all these factors make banks work hard to ensure information about the borrowers. this leads to increased costs and to the risk of misleading financial analysis of the borrower, which would influence negatively on credit portfolio quality in the future. - time ago you have issued the warning of “ bad loans ” risk ; what is the current situation like in this regard? a governor should always be concerned about such an important problem, related to loans portfolio quality. the current situation of credit quality remains satisfactory. the ratio of “ nonperforming loans to ( gross ) outstanding loans, which measures the net size of exposure to credit risk is estimated to 1. 5 percent. constantly the bank of albania ’ s attention has been to strengthening of banking supervision measures. some amendments have been made to the regulation on credit management, consisting in improvement of the lending process of banks, improvement of risk management and some measures have been taken for enhancing transparency with the public. also, this regulation has provided some requirements on additional capital of banks, in case they have a high lending pace. however, we have to do with a process, which never ends and which will always be at the top - list of bank of albania priorities. we will continue to monitor prudentially credit growth and its quality. we will further improve prudential regulations, making them in consistency with best standards used by european central banks. only in this way a good credit quality will be ensured, for preventing any probable negative consequences on the financial stability of the country. - until a year or so ago, treasury bills could be purchased only at central bank ’ s windows, while the selling of treasury bills may be also carried out at some commercial banks. has the liberalization process influenced on yield cut? the possibility of participation of individuals in primary treasury bill market through the banking system dates back to 1996, while the bank of albania was included in this process only during the second half of 2001. the bank of albania, in its role as a central bank, having the