to trend rates, which we continue to estimate at 5 percent annually. in this context, the board decided to lower the monetary policy rate from 5 to 4. 5 percent in its meetings of october and november, in order to accommodate the monetary stimulus to our slower economy and not jeopardize the convergence of inflation to the target. the recent reduction of the mpr is part of a necessary adjustment to deal with recent changes in our macroeconomy and, as i said, ensure compliance with our inflation objective. going forward, further changes to the mpr will depend on incoming information and its implications on the economy ’ s evolution. actually, the baseline scenario does not foresee the need for any significant changes in the mpr but, should such need arise, monetary policy has room and is prepared for further adjustments. bis central bankers ’ speeches over the period, both the real and the nominal exchange rates have depreciated, which is part of the process of restructuring the sources of growth after some time when domestic demand has been the primary driver of such growth. let me now describe for you our baseline scenario and the main risks we have identified in our reports. macroeconomic scenario chile ’ s third - quarter growth was 4. 7 percent y - o - y. mining grew strongly, boosted by the startup of major investment projects of recent years. thus, mining exports have increased, helping to reduce the current account deficit. sectors other than natural resources, meanwhile, continued to post lower growth rates than in 2012 ( figure 1 ). this, together with the revision to growth rates of earlier quarters, confirmed that the chilean economy has lost some strength compared with last year. on the expenditure side, the slowdown extended to each and every component, including private consumption, which was accompanied with significant inventory depletion ( figure 2 ). in this trajectory, the maturation of the mining investment cycle discussed in previous reports has played a major role. in addition, the extraordinary imports of transport materials of the last quarter of 2012 did not continue into this year, and imports of other capital goods were weak in the past few months. consumption has also slowed down, although its adjustment has proceeded gradually, because of still tight labor market conditions, real wages growing strongly and consumer expectations still optimistic, although less so than in the first half of the year. the deceleration of private consumption is expected to continue over the coming months coupled with a not so strong labor market, a vision that is grounded on

as per the requirements of the application, was necessary. i would like to take a moment to thank all the institutions involved in the process for their utmost engagement dedicated to this work, particularly the ministry of finances. the bank of albania compiled an action plan, coordinated and cooperated with all the national 1 / 5 bis - central bankers'speeches institutions involved in the process, while established bridges of communication with the european payments council and the european commission, in order to address every arising during the process. the entire application process was conducted through the valuable assistance of the world bank. allow me to stress out that within less than 5 months, a voluminous and detailed material was compiled, and all the stages of preliminary consultations with the european payments council and the european commission were successfully completed thanks to this coordination and cooperation. the criteria set forth by the european payments council for countries that apply to participate in sepa are concentrated in two aspects. first, the applicant should demonstrate strong economic links with the european union, and second, it should demonstrate the alignment of its legislation with that of the european unions in the area of payments, but not exclusively. the latter has the largest volume in the application. in the area of payments, albania demonstrates a high legal compliance with the acquis and the regulatory framework of sepa. since 2018, albania has accelerated its efforts in this regard, through the drafting by the bank of albania and the approval of the law " on payment services " and the regulatory framework for the implementation thereof. this law transposes the eu directive on payment services, known as psd2. the approval of this law ensures that competition, transparency and consumer protection are maintained during the provision of payment services, following the standards of the european union. in order to fully align the regulatory framework of payments with the sepa criteria, in march and april, the bank of albania prepared and approved a new regulation, which transposes the sepa regulation. alongside laying down certain harmonised standards, this regulation gives the banking system the necessary time to prepare its infrastructure to adapt to the sepa schemes. another aspect of legal compliance is related to the supervisory practices of the banking system and the regulatory requirements on capital, which were for the most part congruent to the eu legislation on the context of sepa. a delicate point in the application is the legal compliance as regards the measures adopted for preventing money laundering and countering of terrorist financing. the delisting of albania from the " grey "