performance reflects the weak borrowing demand from the public sector and the contraction of credit to the private sector. in april, credit to the private sector was 2. 4 % lower than in the previous year, continuing to shrink for all but a year. the poor credit performance reflects mainly the contraction of credit to businesses. the analysis of credit demand and supply factors shows that there are uncertainties on both sides, which are materialised in high risk premiums. as we have previously stated, the steady improvement of crediting will follow the improvement of economic activity in the country. * * * at the end of discussions, the supervisory council concluded that the incoming available information does not alter our baseline projections. the economy will see a gradual growth during the year, with an improved pace over the second half. nevertheless, the increase of aggregate demand will remain below the economy ’ s potential even during 2014, thus determining the gradual return of inflation to target. at the end of discussions, the supervisory council decided to keep the key interest rate unchanged, at 2. 50 %. bis central bankers ’ speeches

ardian fullani : on building capacities for policy design and implementation opening remarks by mr ardian fullani, governor of the bank of albania, at the workshop “ on building capacities for policy design and implementation ", tirana, 3 december 2009. * * * dear participants, it is a very great pleasure for me to open the proceedings of this two - day workshop, entitled “ building capacities for policy design and implementation ”, organised for the first time in albania by the bank of albania, in co - operation with the center of excellence in finance ( cef ), ljubljana, with support from the european commission, european central bank, and international monetary fund. welcoming you here in tirana, allow me to express my gratitude for the excellent work done by the cef in the course of these years, to the benefit of our region. since our washington meeting last april, the effects of the global crisis increased their presence in our region ; however, as i have already emphasised even earlier, they did not immediately concert to full blown economic and financial problems. the extension of crisis effects to the real economy, to the budgets of governments and to financial sectors of the region, was mitigated by sound macroeconomic policies pursued in the recent years and by the availability of international monetary fund funding on an unprecedented scale, in coordination with support from the european commission and the ebrd. due to this intervention, and mostly due to prudential policies pursued by the central banks with regard to financial stability and financial supervision, the region prevented not only twin crises in our banking systems and foreign exchange markets, but also any kind of meltdown. nonetheless, this crisis has been a wake - up call. we agreed on this in our meeting last april, in washington, among senior policy - makers from the region and from eu and ifis. now that we have managed to prevent the crisis, we must start the evaluation of the collateral damage of our response to the crisis. in this respect, it is very important to asses not only the long run sustainability of our region ’ s equilibrium, but also the effectiveness of our short run response. it is crucial to plan and implement our future moves intelligently for its reversal in line with new normalities. while we are not out of the woods yet, it is important to make sure that the past year ’ s fiscal appetite that characterised our region does not become part of this new normality. actually, we need to do some deep thinking about aspects of our