- win strategy as this would limit and make the services offered by banks costlier, which would eventually harm customers and thwart economic growth. in this context, please allow me to also quote the call of the head of state who, following his meeting with the bnb governing council in february, summed up the situation in a fine and very pragmatic way : “ the state should continue to work for the good reputation of our banking system, which is a precondition for more favourable lending and is of benefit to people ”. looking ahead now, we need to stress that coping well in these times of crisis so far does not mean that we can afford to be less watchful or less precise in our next steps. this year, too, will be rich in new challenges. based on the current projections for a recession in the euro area, we expect that the growth rate of the bulgarian economy would slow down to about 0. 7 % in 2012, and this would have a direct impact on the potential of banks in bulgaria to generate incomes from sources of their own. the weak demand for new loans is facing banks with a double challenge. on the one hand, it will be difficult for them to accumulate new buffers from profits ; and on the other hand, the existing classified assets will go on putting pressure on the available reserves. while seeking new business opportunities, you should very carefully approach the question of capital planning. because you are well aware that the bnb makes no compromises with safety. the president of the republic of bulgaria is present today, so i am tempted to take advantage and draw the attention of the responsible state institutions to some significant gaps in the commercial legislation. legal and subjective obstacles get in the way of reducing the share of non - performing loans. bulgaria is no exception among the countries of central and eastern europe where the winding - up and insolvency proceedings, as well as the sale of the collateral, are relatively more sluggish. regretfully, in bulgaria the cases of unethical debtors taking advantage of some weaknesses of the existing insolvency proceedings, which allow them to manipulate the initial date of insolvency and nullify the pieces of collateral bis central bankers ’ speeches pledged after that date, are becoming more and more frequent. the problems with the insolvency and winding - up court proceedings in the corporate sector inhibit the rehabilitation of banks ’ books ( i. e. that part of banks ’ balance sheet assets which has

, the domestic provision of liquidity via refinancing operations and asset purchases combined with liquidity inflows from other countries led to a considerable increase in deposits during the past year : liabilities related to monetary policy operations were up by €458. 5 billion compared with the end of 2019, hitting €1, 018. 8 billion – in other words, nearly doubling. euro - denominated balances of domestic and foreign depositors reported in liability items 3, 4 and 5 were likewise higher on the back of larger general government and foreign central bank holdings, rising by €202. 4 billion to €474. 0 billion. just under one - third of all deposits of credit institutions throughout the eurosystem continue to be held with the bundesbank. the value of banknotes issued by the bundesbank also rose further, climbing by €71. 5 billion to €821. 0 billion, an increase of 9. 5 %. the revaluation accounts are also worth taking a look at. this item increased by €17. 5 billion year on year to €161. 8 billion. the revaluation reserve for gold rose by €20. 4 billion to €159. 0 billion. the price of gold in euro as at the end of 2020 exceeded the previous year ’ s figure by around 14 %. viewed over the long term, there is a sustained marked increase in the revaluation reserve for gold. compared with its starting balance at the launch of monetary union ( €21 billion as at 1 january 1999 ), this revaluation reserve is, with a current balance of €159. 0 billion, around eight 1 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches times as large as it was at the start of january 1999. the revaluation reserves for foreign currencies shrank by over half due to the stronger euro, year on year, with the bulk of the decrease, totalling €3. 1 billion, being attributable to the us dollar. the exchange rate of the euro against the us dollar rose from us $ 1. 1234 to us $ 1. 2271. allow me to conclude with a brief overview of the profit and loss account. the main component of the profit and loss account is net interest income, which recorded a €1. 8 billion decrease from €4. 6 billion to €2. 9 billion. this is notably down to the €1. 4 billion increase