of the banking system ’ s financial results were amortizing factors for the easy monetary authorities ’ measures. however, our monetary policy and our interbank market operations managed to successfully avoid a detrimental contraction of banks ’ balance sheets, something that many emerging countries had to go through. the 1. 00 percentage point cut in 2009 relaxed the financial burden of the banking system ’ s intermediation activity. the bank of albania has consistently supported the banking system with the required liquidity. in addition to cutting the key interest rate, the bank of albania has helped albania ’ s banking system activity through : the change of the refinancing auction form from fixed - amount auction to unlimited - amount auction ; up to 3 - month extension of the maturity term of injected liquidity ; expansion of the range of collateral in our refinancing operations ; increase of the use of required reserve ; and the reduction of the overnight loan interest rate. we have employed almost all of our range of instruments for implementing monetary policy. the amount of liquidity injected by the bank of albania peaked in summer with all 40 billion. as a result of the deposits entering the banking system, this amount reduced gradually to about all 28 billion at the end of 2009. 2. banking supervision and financial stability the banking system performance was significantly conditioned by the economic slowdown and wavering of confidence, aspects that were elaborated at length in my speech. consequently, there was higher uncertainty, higher bank sensitivity to liquidity, a more cautious lending behaviour, and an increase in non - performing loans. these are the main highlights of the banking system performance during 2009. despite the downward profitability, capitalization indicators remain at satisfactory levels. the banking system remains sound, a fact that also attributes to the effective carrying out of the regulatory and supervisory function of the bank of albania. in what follows i would like to elaborate more on these aspects. 2. 1 banking system performance the albanian banking system ’ s total assets increased in 2009, but at a rate about twice lower than in 2008. this decrease reflects fully the lower expansion of lending. our banking system continues to be mainly financed by public deposits and be concentrated on business lending. the banking system ’ s deposits and loans grew but at a lower rate than in the previous years. loans to total deposits increased by nearly 3 percentage points, from 62 to 65 percent. on the other hand, the increase of deposits as a result of the restored public confidence has improved the liquidity situation in the banking system.

, and are considered as accelerators to financial inclusion. the bank of albania, therefore, in addition to the aimed developments in the national strategy for reforming the retail payment systems, is engaged in preparing an annual publication on remittances. this publication aims to enhance the knowledge and information about remittances in the albanian market, and to convey messages in the context of needs for intervention and the potential of remittances for various actors in the economy. for all the issues addressed above, especially related with the commitment of various stakeholders in the modernisation of payment systems in albania, i invite you to actively participate and contribute to this conference. concluding, i would like to wish you fruitful conference proceedings and thank you for your participation and attention. 2 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches