also show that, the banking system still remains less preferable by albanian emigrants who send money to their family members or relatives - only 15. 2 percent of emigrants show interest for using banking system. some of the reasons influencing migrants ’ decision for ( not ) choosing banks to transfer their money were : - geographical proximity of albania and greece ( albanians residing in greece and italy travel to albania frequently, on average 2 to 3 times a year, transferring money themselves ). - insufficiency of emigrants ’ families to the banking system. empirical measures have shown that while a considerable number of emigrants have become familiar with banking in the resident country ( 74. 4 percent of them hold their savings in the banks of their country of residence ), the corresponding families in albania appear to be less familiar with the banking system in albania. only 45. 3 % of albanian families hold a banking account. at this point, some policy implications are evident : improving population awareness of banking services, encouraging expansion of banking throughout the country and facilitating possibilities of money transfers. boa, is in process of designing a public communication strategy that aims at brining the public closer to banking products and services, including transfers. the flow of remittances may also raise if the fiscal burden of financial transfers is reduced. enhancing competition by increasing the number of participants in the market would also push transfer commissions down. here, the government has to incite the establishment of other companies as well as apply the reduced taxes. another way of amplifying competition in the sector is by pressing on price transparency. remittances, as mentioned earlier, are also affected by economic and financial situation in beneficiary country. international experience brings many examples to illustrate this point. after a constant growth of remittances in philippines, as a result of improvements in the investments environment in the early 90s, they became very shaky as the financial crisis affected the asian countries at the end of the 90s. likewise, turkey after experiencing a stable growth of remittances during the 90s, saw a drastic fall as the financial crisis broke out in 1999 - 2000. however, an interesting observation in these cases is that, the fall of remittances and their volatility were lower than those of private capital flows. remittances seem to react less to economic ups and downs compared to other capital flows displaying considerable stability over time ( ratha, 2003 ). in this context, countries with high remittance percentage

relative to other capital flows could be more immune to capital drain during crises. remittances are not simply expression of emigrants ’ fondness to assist their families in adverse situations. they also represent an important financial source that augments capital inflows and investments in economy. remittances may have a positive impact not only on the volume but also on the quality of investments. migrants and / or their relatives being more familiar with the local economic and social environment could make a better use of the capital brought into the country than foreign investors. nowadays this is not just a theoretical inference. a growing number of emigrants that fled during 90s, are returning and funds but also a lot of know - how. a survey carried out with the assistance of the international organization of migration ( iom ) in albania and cards project. the questionnaire period comprises april - june 2005. 3 / 5 however, there is always another side of the coin. remittances inflow might have negative effects as well. if the recipient country remains dependant on money transfers, it will encourage further migration of labour by reducing the effectiveness of investments of domestic and foreign investors because of the unstable workforce. what's more important, if remittances go mainly for financing imports, their impact in the development of the domestic economy drops significantly. i fear albania is one of these cases. remittances are being mainly used to secure daily family needs and to improve life style, as well as to construct or reconstruct houses, and to finance traditional family ceremonies. only a small portion goes into banks as saving deposits. in fewer cases, remittances have been invested in real estates, manufacturing or services and agricultural sectors. this distribution of remittances alleviates poverty but does not lead to new job creation via investments, which would prevent new emigration by generating local opportunities. being utilised little as resources for the economic and social development of the country, remittances may have led to individual, family or local dependency. during the first stage of transition in albania policies for optimising the administration and utilisation of workers ’ remittances for developing purposes have been completely lacking. a few sporadic measures have aimed at driving workers ’ remittances into official channels and improving savings and investments incentives of emigrants in the country but have been by and large inadequate. more recently, the albanian government has taken a more attentive approach toward remittances and their