therefore not yielded to calls to relax our monetary policy stance. if we did, monetary policy would only strengthen the shock - related inflationary pressures. at the current juncture, however, with inflation in the euro area having reached a record high and inflation risks still on the upside, there is the concrete risk that longer - term inflation expectations will start creeping up more strongly. the experience of the great inflation demonstrates that a stability - oriented central bank is well - advised to fight the risk of broad - based second - round effects decisively and proactively. by doing so, it will keep the costs of curbing inflation dynamics relatively low. our commitment to a systematic focus on price stability is even more important, as the recent rounds of wage settlement in the euro area have not contributed to curbing inflation pressures. on the contrary, recent wage dynamics in conjunction with elevated and persistent energy and food price pressures have increased the risk of a prolonged period of intolerably high inflation. at our last meeting of the ecb governing council, we emphasised that, given the uncertainty about the economic outlook and the prevailing downside risks to economic growth, the continued vigorous expansion of money and credit and the strong upside risks to price stability, the governing council is in a state of heightened alertness. financial markets should by now have understood our readiness to act. it is our strong determination to secure a firm anchoring of medium and long - term inflation expectations in line with price stability. after all, the best contribution that the eurosystem can make to sustainable growth in the euro area is to safeguard price stability in the medium to long term and lastly we should also not forget that a reliable monetary policy also helps to reduce uncertainty in times of an ongoing financial market turmoil. thank you for your attention. references beyer a., v. gaspar, c. gerberding and o. issing : “ opting out of the great inflation : german monetary policy after the breakdown of bretton woods ”, paper prepared for the nber conference “ a retrospective on the great inflation ”, organised by michael bordo and athanasios orphanides, woodstock, september 2008. borio, c. ( 2008 ), “ the financial turmoil of 2007 -? : a preliminary assessment and some policy considerations ”, bis working paper no 251, march 2008. clarida, r., j. gali and m. gertler ( 2000 ) : monetary policy rules and macroeconomic stability : evidence

public ’ s national awareness and the patriotic response of the latter. i avail myself of this opportunity to make this appeal to the albanian public, which with the rational behaviour shown so far, has shown that it is prudent and responsible. what i would appeal once again is simple. we should have : more confidence in our currency ; more confidence in our banking system ; more confidence in our analysis and conclusions ; more deposits mean more loans ; more loans mean more prosperity. after all, this is the real convergence with the european union. in conclusion, i would like to note that the year 2009 was a relatively hard one for the banking sector. although the year 2010 is expected to be a better one, some banking activity - related issues such as loan quality, its recovery, the shareholders ’ commitment to providing more support to the banking activity and the strengthening of risk management structures require your utmost attention. the bank of albania remains committed to acting in full compliance with the legal and regulatory framework requirements that establish the norms for the conduct of banking activity. therefore, your co - operation and professionalism are particularly important to this process.