the last quarter of 2009, featuring lower trade deficit during this period. however, given its relatively small share of the gdp, the impact of this correction to the economic growth of 2010 is projected to be moderate. annual inflation marked 3. 6 percent in january while average annual inflation rate increased to 2. 4 percent. the annual increase in consumer prices was in line with the bank of albania ’ s target for inflation in january, standing at the upper limit of the tolerance band. the upward inflation trend in january owes mainly to the higher food prices following the latter ’ s rise in the global markets and the lagged effect of the exchange rate depreciation. the contribution of other consumer price basket items to inflation, albeit upward, was still low. the latest energy price rise effect on february ’ s inflation is expected to contribute by 0. 5 percentage points to the annual inflation rate. the bank of albania assesses that the performance of the albanian economy has yielded balanced inflationary pressures. this is also confirmed by the performance of core and non - traded inflation, whose rates marked 1. 4 and 1. 7 percent, respectively, in january. these trends suggest that the inflationary pressures exerted by domestic demand are weak, while the increase of inflation over the last months owes mainly to supply - side factors. the bank of albania considers that these factors will only affect temporarily and their pressures on inflation are expected to gradually dampen in 2010. the same performance seems to be also expected by the main economic agents, whose inflation expectations remain anchored close to the bank of albania ’ s target. the bank of albania has been pursuing a prudent monetary policy over this period. the increase of monetary stimulus in economy, without prejudice to macroeconomic stability and keeping the economic agents ’ expectations stable, was the major focus of our policy. our decisions have in particular aimed at providing adequate monetary conditions for the observance of the inflation target in the medium run and smoothing out the albanian economy ’ s way to more stable economic and financial balances. this philosophy will continue to guide our decision - making in the period to follow. the latest data on albania ’ s external position cover only foreign trade. the analysis attests to the annual narrowing of trade deficit by about 17 percent in december. in annual terms, exports of goods increased 27 percent, while imports declined 10 percent. the relative coverage ratio of imports with exports increased to 23 percent. despite this performance, the external position of the albanian economy remains a concern as

to broaden their reach. ( b ) on the flip side, fintech solutions present established financial institutions with opportunities to enhance their product offerings or to improve operational productivity. mckinsey estimated that enhancing digital capacity and adopting technologies could result in productivity gains worth roughly us $ 350 billion for the global banking industry by 20252. but the competition will remain intense. large internet - based firms with their massive customer base can be serious contenders for customer mind - share and wallets including in the area of financial services. there is another development that has gained traction. we see the emergence of fully digital banks that operate entirely online with no physical branches, but are able to provide similar services as the traditional brick - and - mortar banks. fidor bank, founded in germany, is one such example. webank in china is another. dbs ’ digibank, a mobile - only bank in india, is also completely branchless and in less than two years, have signed up more than 1. 5 million 2 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches customers. all three have different origins and operate very different business models. i am sure the panellists later will discuss these further when they talk about the future of banking. let me turn to this forum ’ s theme question on whether we will witness an evolution or revolution in banking. i believe it will be both. a lot of attention and excitement have been created by services going digital. this digitisation of services have transformed the customer experience say for on - boarding or transactional purposes ; but frankly, are not ground - breaking in themselves. as one commentary noted, this is no different from reading an actual newspaper or reading the news online. but a revolution is also happening when new digital services or business models emerge that employ say, artificial intelligence ( ai ) or blockchain technologies. these can fundamentally change how we borrow, save, pay, invest or insure. as an example, there is a uk bank babb that leverages totally on blockchain and biometrics to provide peer - topeer financial services with the slogan of “ everyone is a bank ”. time will determine the winners and losers as this cycle of technology disruption takes it course. open banking open banking broadly captures the concept that a consumer owns information about himself, and should be able to share that information with any third party if he chooses, for example through apis, and to transfer his money to any third party seamlessly. the effect is to give consumers ownership