. what makes these achievements especially impressive is that they have taken place despite a contracting economy, which creates moving targets for fiscal consolidation. external adjustment let me now turn to external adjustment. in the 9 years, 2001 through 2009, greece lost about 30 per cent in terms of cost competitiveness against its major trading partners. in just 4 years, 2010 through 2013, the entire loss has been recovered. competitiveness is also being promoted through structural reforms. as a result of these improvements in competitiveness, a rebalancing of the greek economy is taking place. the share of exports of goods and services in gdp rose from 19 per cent in 2009 to 27 per cent in 2012. the share of greek exports of goods in world trade has risen by 30 per cent since 2010. the current account, which reached a deficit of 15 per cent of gdp in 2008, has moved into surplus in the first eight months of 2013, and we expect a surplus for the year as a whole. bis central bankers ’ speeches the banking sector strategy with the deepening of the crisis a few years ago, the bank of greece stepped - in to preserve banking system stability. our efforts focused on two fronts : • preserving banking system liquidity, and • restoring capital adequacy. the bank of greece, as part of the eurosystem, provided ample liquidity to banks at low interest rates using standard and non - standard monetary policy measures. moreover, when banks came under intense liquidity pressures, the bank of greece provided them with emergency liquidity assistance. in terms of capital, a national backstop of €50 billion was established in the form of the hellenic financial stability fund. in addition, the bank of greece conducted a viability study of the banking system. based on this study, viable banks have been fully recapitalized using a combination of state and private funds. non - viable banks that were not able to raise private capital have been resolved, using state of the art resolution tools – tools that are now being introduced in many other countries. in total, 9 banks have been successfully resolved. as a result, today we have four well - capitalized viable pillar banks ; one of them under state control – but soon to be privatized ( eurobank ) – and three privately managed ( nbg, alpha and piraeus ). we also have a few smaller banks, that are also well - capitalized. this situation, with four large banks and a few smaller ones, should

be seen in the context of a banking system comprising almost 20 banks a few years ago. i believe that the consolidation, and the elimination of excess capacity to be achieved over the next few years, are impressive. moreover, there is a significant backstop facility ( the “ buffer ” ), in excess of €10 billion, to provide additional capital support to banks, should that be necessary. i am extremely satisfied that, having survived such an enormous economic and financial storm, the greek banking system is becoming more competitive and well - capitalized. this result didn ’ t just happen – it was the result of enormous work, difficult decisions, and careful organization. however, this is not the end of the story for the transformation of the banking system. the second stage of our strategy is just beginning. this stage will be characterized by efforts to implement a new banking model. this model will allow banks to exploit synergies and economies of scale, and will, therefore, entail a further elimination of excess capacity. in this way, banks will become more efficient, gradually reducing their reliance on state aid and central - bank funding. banks also need to refocus their business on their core activities. this step implies selling non - core assets and rationalizing their network and activities abroad. rationalization does not mean outright sale. the banks will consider disposing operations that absorb disproportional amounts of capital and ( scarce ) liquidity. however they do not intend to proceed to fire sales of self - funded, efficient business units, a situation that characterizes most subsidiaries of greek banks in albania. but i will come back to this issue. as you may know, we have recently engaged blackrock – for a second time – to update credit loss projections for banks ’ loan portfolios up to 2016, and to study the efficiency of banks ’ procedures in managing non - performing loans. as i mentioned, due to the efficient use of resources, a buffer of €10 billion is available [ at the hellenic financial stability fund ] as a public backstop, should additional capital needs arise. moreover, we estimate that the sale of non - core assets and the exploitation of synergies arising from mergers will provide a further buffer of an estimated €5 - €6 billion. banks also need to manage their loan portfolios in a more efficient way. this involves primarily efficient resolution of non - performing loans. improvements in the npl management will lead to lower capital requirements. the reduced capital requirements are expected