considered immune to foreign competition - has led to dire predictions about a wholesale “ export ” of u. s. jobs in coming years. although globalization will continue to be a force for economic change, the pace of change is likely to be slower than implied by such predictions. outsourcing abroad has proved profitable primarily for jobs that can be routinized and sharply defined. for the foreseeable future, most high - value work will require creative interaction among employees, interaction that is facilitated by physical proximity, personal contact, and shared cultural experiences. moreover, in many fields, closeness to customers and knowledge of local conditions are also of great importance. these observations suggest that, for some considerable time, outsourcing abroad will be uneconomical for many types of jobs, particularly high - value jobs. 6 fundamentally, the outsourcing of business services abroad is not a new phenomenon. in an increasingly interdependent world economy, trade in services, like trade in goods, is being harnessed to the goals of cutting costs and expanding production. that outsourcing abroad benefits the receivers as well as the providers of outsourced services has been shown by empirical studies. for example, catherine mann ( 2004 ) has estimated that outsourcing abroad has reduced prices of it hardware 10 to 30 percent, boosting the diffusion of information technology throughout the u. s. economy and the term outsourcing alone refers to the shift of activities outside the corporation, including the use of domestic as well as foreign suppliers. i will use the phrases outsourcing abroad or offshoring to denote outsourcing to foreign suppliers. the economic importance of physical proximity is the underlying reason that individuals and businesses are willing to pay high rents and other costs to live in or near major cities, where they can be near large numbers of other people and businesses that have related expertise and interests. raising both productivity and growth by a very significant amount - 0. 3 percentage point per year. 7 the mckinsey global institute ( 2003 ) finds that for every dollar of activity outsourced to india, the united states receives between $ 1. 12 and $ 1. 14 in economic benefits. 8 as with trade in general, it is useful to ask how much outsourcing abroad contributes to gross job loss in the united states. unfortunately, as with trade in general, measures of gross job loss associated with outsourcing abroad are scarce. an analysis by goldman - sachs ( 2003 ) estimated that u.

of which during this period amounted to eur 3. 2 billion, which represents an annual growth of 6. 9 %. interest rates on loans continued to decline which decreased to 6. 6 % from 6. 8 % in the same period last year, indicating the continued ease of access to bank financing. financial health indicators continued to show a high level of sustainability of this sector in all respects. in particular, it is worth mentioning the very good quality of the loan portfolio with a non - performing loans ratio of only 2. 7 % in october 2018, which, compared to last year when it was 3. 6 %, marked a further decrease. * * * page 2 of 6 other sectors of the financial system were also characterized by favourable developments. the value of assets of the pension sector in september 2018 amounted to eur 1. 76 billion, marking an annual growth of 11. 2 %. return on pension fund investments continued to be positive, indicating an increase in the value of pension savings of citizens. * * * the insurance sector continued to increase its insurance activity as well as compensate the insured against damages. the total written premium value of insurance companies in september 2018 was eur 69. 1 million, which represents an annual growth of 4. 8 %. on the other hand, the value of the damages paid amounted to eur 31. 5 million, marking an annual growth of 8. 2 %. increased damages paid, in addition to increasing the number of insurance policies, also reflect the more responsible behaviour of insurance companies against insured persons. the insurance sector has continued to have positive financial performance for the second consecutive year, which represents a very important development for the sustainability of this sector. * * * another important sector of the financial system is the microfinance institutions sector, which is continuing to accelerate the lending rate, becoming a sector that is increasingly contributing to the growth of competition in the credit market. the total value of this sector's loans in october 2018 amounted to eur 177. 7 million, marking an annual growth of 29. 1 %. however, a falling interest rate from the current average level of 23. 1 % would make this sector even more competitive and with greater role in supporting the domestic economy. page 3 of 6 * * * the central bank of the republic of kosovo with all its capacities has continued to supporti the sustainable development of the financial system, providing all the necessary infrastructure to support the development of financial institutions and at the same time ensuring that